Majek begged Margaret Thatcher, George Bush and Frederik De Klerk to free Mandela it begged Babangida to free Nigeria and it begged colonial masters to free Africa. The song also reminded us that Nigeria had been independent had been independent for 29 years but Nigerians were still dependent. The song spoke of the man who had been in jail for 27 years, who “left his wife and his children for the sake of Africa”. I remember Majek Fashek’s Free Mandela, from his album I and I Experience. My initial education on South Africa, apartheid and Nelson Mandela was from the music of the day. There was no CNN/cable television for us until the mid to late 90s, no internet, no news breaking globally in an instant. As a child of the 80s in Nigeria, we didn’t have political programmes dedicated to the struggle – it would have been hard and perhaps a bit hypocritical, seeing as we were under the thumb of the military for the greater part of 1980-1990. How will I remember Nelson Mandela? It will be in the music that was made about him and his role in the struggle to smash apartheid. English: Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, Gauteng, on (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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