Music can grow your imagination and its power and take you to ver far places in a matter of seconds. For me music has always been the cheapest way to travel and just listening to the melodies of some songs takes me on a trip to a far away place. I’m sure there are also songs that take you to your dream destinations.
Well, one example of those songs that I recently listened to is Jain’s Makeba. Lyrics, rhythms, music video and everything else about this song just makes me fall in love with it. It’s a beautiful combination of African and modern electronic melodies. Just listening to this song makes me start wondering about all the places I want to visit in Africa and I picture myself in all those places one by one. Unfortunately I’ve only seen the Northern parts and countries of this continent but I’ve read lots of books and have seen many movies and documentaries about African history and culture. All of the things I’ve learned about Africa has a caused a very deep love and a yearning to see it. I wish I’ll be able to visit Africa in 2017.
Another reason and maybe the most important reason for why I love this song is that it is about Miriam Makeba. Otherwise known as Mama Africa, Miriam Makeba is an artist and activist. You can feel and get in touch with the African culture just by listening to her songs. Pata Pata is one of her most famous songs which was recorded in 1957 but was release in 1967 in the US. Though the song that I love the most is called Khawuleza which means “Hurry! Hide!” and it’s about what the African children living in the slums tell their mothers when white policemen are raiding them for one reason or another.
Besides being great singer, she was also a civil rights activist. She fought against the apartheid regime in South Africa. The apartheid system in South Africa was an institutionalized racial discrimination against the blacks and was in place between 1948 and 1991. Because of her activities her passport was revoked in 1960 and she was stripped of her African citizenship in 1960. She was able to return to Africa many many years later when the apartheid broke down, in 1990.