Most likely it was Peter Gabriel's In Your Eyes that I heard first. It is a hauntingly beautiful song that appeals to my innate mystic sense, but when I first heard Youssou N'Dour's ethereal vocal crescendo at around 4:30 I was transported to a place I did not know.
I've been following that sound since.
I first heard Johnny Clegg in the early 80s. It was this particular lyric...
Ancient bones from Olduvaiin this particular song...
Echoes of the very first cry
"Who made me, here and why? --
Beneath this copper sun."
My very first beginnings
Beneath the copper sky
Lie deeply buried
In the dust of Olduvai
And we are scatterlings of Africa
Both you and I...
...that touched something deep and organic in me.
Paul Simon's Graceland had one song in particular that dropped the veil for me. The guitar and vocal accompaniment on this song is pure life, devoid of all artifice and pretence.
These songs have done more to transform my taste than any others.
"So" and "Graceland" were two very iconic albums... both of which I had on vinyl... if I remember correctly they came out about the same time... a time of global recognition of what was happening in South Africa... with Mandela and the government, etc...
ReplyDeleteTo me it was just the music. I am agnostic on South African politics.
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