The first video is by Eddie Grant and it's a plea to the apartheid government. It is called "Give Me Hope Joanna" (1988). "Joanna" stands for Johannesburg.
The second video is one put together by Steven Van Zandt in 1985 to promote an artist boycott of South Africa. It was known as "Artists United Against Apartheid".
Thank you Eddie and Steven.
The final cut is from 1979. It is a powerful call to revolution and "redemption".
The lyrics are powerful B. These are my favourite lines:
"Emancipate yourself from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds
Have no fear for atomic energy
Cause none of them can stop the time
How long shall they kill our prophets?
While we stand aside and look
Some say it's just a part of it
We've got to fulfill the book
Won't you help to sing another song of freedom
Cause all I ever had redemption songs, redemption songs"
This then is my gesture to anti-apartheid artists, "redemption songs", and the penultimate TFFs.
Holla!
2 comments:
That is some amazing footage on "Sun City." It takes my respect for your involvement in that struggle to an even higher level.
And, of course, I love "Redemption Song." I used to have that bumper sticker "emancipate yourself from mental slavery..."
Thanks, Ridwan; I was worried I would have to wean myself from TFF when they weren't up before my bedtime last night!
Shus li I was out 'shopping' ... I kid you not.
Hey I really appreciate your enthusiasm for TFFs :0)
I still remember the artists who refused not to play Sun City or South Africa:
Eartha Kitt; Tina Turner; Rod Stewart; Geroge Benson; Elton John; Richard Chamberlain; The Ojays; The Realistics ...
Be well my sista!
Ridwan
Post a Comment