At a time when true statesmen are very much needed, and to mark the centenary of the great South African's birth, two great 1980s songs that helped bring his incarceration, and apartheid, to worldwide attention. It's easy to forget what a huge moment it was when Mandela was finally released in 1990 after 28 years, and how a huge wave of optimism spread with his eventual election as president in 1994.
Political and protest songs are often strong on message and less so on musical quality, but these two numbers do both. The former, from 1984 was written by The Specials' Jerry Dammers and produced by Elvis Costello. The band included Stan Campbell on lead vocals and Rhoda Dakar on backing vocals, was an evolution from the great 2-Tone Coventry ska band, The Specials, and this song came from the album, In The Studio. Rocksteady, ska and pop combine in a wonderfully joyful, uplifting, catchy, danceable formula. Political songs can also make you dance.
As Mandela's South Africa struggled against apartheid, and international pressure built to free him, his great friend, leading campaigner and jazz musician Hugh Masekela was also a leading cultural figure in the political struggle, and this clip shows him highlighting the cause at a Paul Simon concert in 1987, calling him to be able to return to Soweto, but it is his trumpet call, and the music, that does the talking.
Free Nelson Mandela
Free, free, free, free, free
Nelson Mandela
Free Nelson Mandela
Twenty-one years in captivity
Shoes too small to fit his feet
His body abused but his mind is still free
Are you so blind that you cannot see?
I said free Nelson Mandela
I'm begging you, free Nelson Mandela
Pleaded the causes at the ANC
Only one man in a large army
Are you so blind that you cannot see?
Are you so deaf that you cannot hear his plea?
Free Nelson Mandela
I'm begging you, free Nelson Mandela
Twenty-one years in captivity
Are you so blind that you cannot see?
Are you so deaf that you cannot hear?
Are you so dumb that you cannot speak?
I said free Nelson Mandela
I'm begging you, free Nelson Mandela
Free Nelson Mandela
Begging you, begging you please
Free Nelson Mandela
You've got to, you've got to
You got to free
You got to free
You got to free
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
I'm telling you, telling you, telling you
You've got to free, you've got to free
You've got to free, you've got to free
Nelson Mandela
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