After yesterday’s sweat-stained pop fest I think we should take a breath of fresh South African acoustic to change it up a bit.

A few posts ago I mentioned seeing Dave Matthews looking really timid beside the salsa kings, the Orchestra Baobab, at a concert in Dakar. Did you know he was South African? I didn’t until today to be honest. I also didn’t know that Vusi Mahlasela is signed to his label… and so it goes.

Despite this connection my educated guess is that Vusi and Dave didn’t really share the same childhood. Vusi Mahlasela grew up in a township outside Pretoria, the capital of apartheid South Africa. He started his musical career playing a home-made tin can and fishing wire guitar, eventually emerging as one of South Africa’s most famous musical artists and a major revolutionary voice against the white apartheid governement.

What’s interesting about Vusi and many, many other South African revolutionaries is that they didn’t hold a grudge. When apartheid finally fell during the 1990s he along with powerful voices like Nelson Mandela were preaching reconciliation and forgiveness instead of bitter revenge. Vusi was both a revolutionary and a post-apartheid pacifist. Without respected artists like Vusi Mahlasela South Africa could very well have decended into brutal civil war, not only between whites and blacks but also between rival southern African tribes vying for control of the new nation. For these reasons I really respect him.

I respect his music, too. No matter how popular he gets or how many of you already know him he deserves a post. Two songs today: one from his wonderful Live at the Bassline album and another track off Wisdom of Forgiveness. The first track is my favourite version of a song about Mandela’s return after years in prison. The latter track features some beautiful mbube singing found in a lot of Vusi’s music.

ps- unfortunately the Bassline is now closed. Or at least it was last time I was in Jo’burg. A great shame, that.

Vusi Mahlasela & Louis Mhlanga – When He Comes Back (Live)
Vusi Mahlasela – Emigodini