Stories of Freedom...

It is a proud day - 15 years since South Africa first celebrated its free and fair democractic election! Honoured as Freedom Day ever since!

Over the weekend I felt the need for a little bit of African influence, some South African nostalgia - and so I popped in a Johnny Clegg DVD - Live at the Nelson Mandela Theatre, together with the Soweto Gospel Choir...

And as I sang along to the many Johnny Clegg classics Ive come to love, I ended up perched on the edge of the couch when Johnny told detailed and fascinatingly rich stories in between the songs. Most of these stories I had heard before in varying snippets on stage and sound bites from interviews - but what really impressed upon me was how these are stories are so important to be heard by the youth of South Africa - in fact, anyone who is South African. Especially during these times of reflection and change as a new leader steps up to a massive challenge...

How many more stories by South Africans are locked in memories of moments passed, and of musicians - how many stories are safely tucked away in a tune - some day, in centuries to come, to be deciphered, like the lyrical lines of poet's passed...

But what better way to actually find out what a song was about then to hear it from the artist who wrote it - whether it was just written as an expression of an emotion or experience - but sometimes songs are written as stories of the times. Im not talking about commercial crap of course, but rather the heartfelt stuff written by artists because the song is burning within them, needing to breath air and come out. Like folk music which is indeed an original story telling style - and many of South Africa's great artists encapsulate some of the great stories of our land in music.

So I encourage more SA artists to make an active attempt to capture the meanings and stories behind their songs - for prosperity, for our future, for the culture of our country!

Rock on stories in songs - and capturing them for all South Africans,
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