#Revisit1976SowetoUprising – Tunes to jam to this Youth Month
Historic anthems narrate the past way better.
Music played an undeniable role during the apartheid struggle as people sometimes used it as a form of protest. Musicians such as Hugh Masekela, Brenda Fassie, and Miriam Makeba and in the later years, Thandiswa Mazwai, have amplified the struggles of the youth with their music. These are some of the songs we think you should be listening to this June 16.
Thandiswa Mazwai- Zabalaza
This song comes from Thandiswa’s first solo album which was released in 2006. The song addresses some of the struggles youth in the early 2000s were facing such as high levels of HIV infection and poverty.
Mazwai is telling her listeners not to sit back but to rather fight all that they are facing.
Hugh Masekela- Chileshe
An age-old classic, which can still be applied to South Africa’s black community today. This gem was released in 1998 and it speaks about the division in the black community. Hugh Masekela urges his people to overcome the division that the apartheid government put in place between them in order to divide and rule.
Thandiswa Mazwai-Nizalwa Ngobani?
https://youtu.be/PZ1D-ndTxpE
Miss Mazwai makes another return on our list with a classic that honours those who came before the youth. She urges young people to remember the heroes before them who birthed them and to keep their spirit alive. She makes mention of people such as Mama Winnie Mandela, Robert Sobukwe and Steve Biko.
Senzeni Na?- Performed by the Cape Youth Choir
This song was typically sung during funerals during the apartheid struggle. The youth of 1976 also sang this song when they were mourning the loss of their fellow pupils who were killed in the fight for an education system that benefitted the black child.
This song was also sung by young people fighting for free higher education between 2015 and 2017 when free higher education was officially announced by former president Zuma.
Sarafina soundtrack
We cannot end the list without mentioning the Sarafina! soundtrack and it is too good not to include all of it on the list.
The Lords Prayer
Sabela
Funeral song
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