SUSTAINING A LEGEND
THROUGH SONG Songs written and sung about Mandela celebrate his political activism, 27-year-long incarceration, his presidency of party and country, his retirement, and death. The oeuvre symbolising the life of the man whom Amnesty International chose as its Ambassador of Conscience in 2006, is expansive. These are a selection of the most evocative. NEO LEKGOTLA LAGA RAMOUPI
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rguably, no other leader in history and human rights has had so many songs of freedom, protest, struggle, liberation, love and admiration composed in their name. Two illustrations demonstrate this: Firstly, the Free Nelson Mandela Music Festival Concert held at Wembley, England, on 11 June 1988 for Mandela’s 70th birthday. In the foreword of this concert book, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, writes, “June 11, 1988 is a date which will be written indelibly into the history of our freedom struggle. The great gathering in Wembley Stadium of artists from all over the world to pay tribute to our cause was a source of great inspiration to all our people.” Mandela was still in prison at the time.
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Secondly, the 46664: The Event at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa in 2003. This time, Mandela was there in person to host this triumphant African musical extravaganza. These songs, despite being in Mandela’s name, are the songs of the people of South Africa, Africa, and for the global community of international solidarity. Mandela’s struggle, from his birth in 1918 – eight years after the establishment of the Union of South Africa in 1910, and six years after the formation of the ANC – through his inauguration as the first African president of South Africa on 10 May 1994, symbolises not only the Africans’ struggle for freedom and liberation, but also for humanity. The Mandela name was kept alive in South Africa’s townships
