“It is better to die for an idea that will live, than to live for an idea that will die.” Steve Biko
Back in the late 70s I went to an overnight summer camp and there was a guy named Ricky Haar who was known for playing the song American Pie by Don McLean. I mean every talent show and campfire wouldn’t be complete with him playing this song on acoustic guitar. As I got older I taught myself how to play guitar and eventually joined a band called Tempus Fugit that I’ve been playing in on and off since about 1986. But before I reached this level of obscurity I played guitar at camp…just like Ricky. I wasn’t particularly good but the beauty of doing things in the moment is that you are often oblivious to what hindsight will possibly disclose as questionable choices. So I used to get on stage and play songs I had written…really really bad songs that seemed earnest and….and….for the life of me I’m not sure what possibly inspired me do to it. I never felt cool as a teenager so getting up on stage to perform in front of people was an insane prospect. I mean I used to wear my headgear to school while in High School…who does that? People that want to feel cool…yeah…no. So anyway at one point in my 6 years as a counselor at Camp Winnebagoe I started to perform the song Biko by Peter Gabriel at talent shows. It was a pretty easy song to play and sing and had a powerful message. Plus I was a huge Genesis and Peter Gabriel fan so this was something I felt a connection to that I didn’t feel insecure about performing. I played it so often that I began to realize people associated the song with me in a way that I associated American Pie to Ricky Haar. It was a weird feeling but something that has been endearing over the years having people that I’ve known have a positive memory of me in a musical way. Some were even inspired to listen to him because of that exposure.
The original song Biko was written by Peter Gabriel for his third solo album (titled Peter Gabriel but known as his Melt due to the album cover). It was released in 1980 and told the story in very basic terms of Stephen Biko who as a South African anti-apartheid activist who was arrested in August of 1977 and beaten so badly by state security officers that he died in prison of his injuries on September 12. Peter heard about this and wrote the song which is an incredibly powerful 7 and a half minute piece of music in its original form. It was the last song on the record and it became a rallying cry for change bringing attention to the horrors that were occurring in South Africa at the time. He would end every concert with the song and still ends most shows with it to this day. It was first released as a single in 1980 and proceeds for it we’re donated to the Black Consciousness Movement of South Africa. I would say the song itself had such an impact that it eventually inspired the Sun City project by Artists United Against Apartheid album and subsequently the A Conspiracy Of Hope and Human Rights Now! tours in 1986 and 1988. In 1987 the movie Cry Freedom was released chronicling the story of Steven Biko who was portrayed by Denzel Washington. A live version of the song recorded in 1987 at Blossom Music Centre (which is a BEAUTIFUL venue in Cuyahoga Falls Ohio) was released to accompany the movie featuring clips from it although the song didn’t actually appear in the film.
Then yesterday after several years of inactivity from Peter Gabriel came this – https://youtu.be/jWNEr4eHL18 (video posted below) – several people sent me the link saying the thought of me when they saw it. At first I thought it was going to be kind of meh…nothing that could improve on the original but to my surprise it is an amazing reworking of an almost untouchable song. With the help of 25 musicians globally he has created another beautiful rendition of the song made famous over 40 years ago. Angelique Kidjo is simply awesome on vocals.
The full list includes:
The Cape Town Ensemble from Gugulethu, South Africa
Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe from Wadsworth, Nevada
Meshell Ndegeocello from Hudson, New York
TaikoProject from Little Tokyo, California
Peter Gabriel from Wiltshire, UK
Yo-Yo Ma from Boston, Massachusetts
Tashar Lall from Mumbai, India
Sabastian Robertson from Los Angeles, California
Dynamic Music Collective from Los Angeles, California
Silkroad from Brooklyn, New York
Angelique Kidjo from Paris, France
Cristina Pato from Galicia, Spain
Jason Tamba from Kinshasa, Congo
What he told Rolling Stone was “Although the white minority government has gone in South Africa, the racism around the world that apartheid represented has not. Racism and nationalism are sadly on the rise. In India, Myanmar and Turkey, Israel and China, racism is being deliberately exploited for political gain. On the black/white front the Black Lives Matter movement has made it very clear how far we still have to go before we can hope to say we have escaped the dark shadow of racism.” The money generated from this single will support the Playing for Change Foundation, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations and its Remember Slavery Programme, Sankofa, the Bob Marley Foundation, Silkroad, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.
Info on how to support can be found at http://www.playingforchange.org
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