The music that fought for Mandela
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FILE — South Africa’s President Nelson Mandela, is flanked by Spice Girls Melanie Brown Geri Halliwell in South Africa in 1997. Picture: Ap
Source: News Limited
Nelson Mandela makes an appeal that the women of Africa not continue to bear the burden of HIV-AIDS alone at the international 46664 Aids concert in George, South Africa in 2005. AFP / RAJESH JANTILAL
Source: AFP
Nelson Mandela, and the anti-apartheid movement, inspired several generations of musicians. Here’s a look at the most significant songs and events sparked by his struggle for freedom.
FREE NELSON MANDELA
One of the best known protest songs, this was a chart hit in 1984. Written by Jerry Dammers and performed by his band the Special AKA, it was produced by Elvis Costello. Dammers was inspired after going to an anti-apartheid concert in 1983. The lyrics include the lines “Twenty-one years in captivity, his shoes too small to fit his feet, his body abused but his mind is still free.” It was reworked for Mandela’s 70th birthday in 1988 and Amy Winehouse performed the song with Dammers at Mandela’s 90th birthday tribute concert in London in 2008. Queen’s Brian May played guitar, at one stage Winehouse sang ‘Free Blakey my fella’ instead of the chorus in reference to her incarcerated husband.
MANDELA – BRING HIM BACK HOME
Hugh Masekela is a South African trumpet player who wrote music about the violence and racism he saw created by apartheid. He released Mandela – Bring Him Back Home in 1987 with lyrics including ” I want to see him walking down the streets of South Africa tomorrow, I want to see him walking hand in hand with Winnie Mandela.”
46664 CONCERTS
Named after Mandela’s prisoner number, there have been several 46664 concerts including one in Cape Town in 2003 with Bono and the Edge, Eurythmics, Robert Plant, Peter Gabriel, Queen, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and more. It spawned a live album and DVD. The Spice Girls were expected to reform at a 46664 concert in 2008 but instead Geri Halliwell was one of the many celebrities to make an appearance on stage in Hyde Park. The Spice Girls met Mandela in 1997 where Halliwell told him “You’re not old, you’re as young as the girl you feel and I’m 25.”
ORDINARY LOVE
BRAND new U2 song written for inclusion in the Mandela: Long Walk to Fame biopic starring Idris Alba as Mandela. They also released Silver and Gold in 1988, inspired by the apartheid regime. Bono had been part of Little 1985 Artists United Against Apartheid collaboration, which brought attention to the racist policy in South Africa with the song (I Ain’t Gonna Play) Sun City.
GIMME HOPE JO’ANNA
Eddy Grant released this reggae song in 1988, but it was banned by the South African government. The title refers to Johannesburg and the lyrics have references to politics, sneaking across borders and anti-apartheid activist Desmond Tutu. One verse runs “I hear she make all the golden money to buy new weapons, any shape of guns, while every mother in black Soweto fears the killing of another son.”
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