Phillip Kakaza and Alex Dodd preview the Gift to the Nation Concert celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday
Gift to the nation indeed! And the nation is duly looking forward to tonight -Friday July 24 -at Kingsmead Stadium in Durban and Saturday night at the Johannesburg Stadium, like good children look forward to Christmas. Set to be the biggest bash this country has probably ever seen, with a line-up to make the bookers at Wembley Stadium go green, the concert celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 80th birthday is nothing short of befitting for an epoch-making hero.
The City of Gold has been crawling with stars since last week when the first of the international celebs arrived on this southernmost tip of Africa. Rumours about romantic ties between local and international artists abound. Star-spotters and autograph-collectors have been hanging out in the bar at the Hilton and the Hyatt.
So, take a deep breath – here’s the line-up: Soul superstar Stevie Wonder; chart-busting Baltimore-based quartet Dru Hill; local kwaito stars TKZee; the Village Pope, Tshepo Tshola, and Sankamoto; rockers Skunk Anansie, featuring the insanely sexy Skin with her wild anarchic stage presence; Malian legend Salif Keita, who also appeared at Mandela’s 70th birthday bash at Wembley in London; local crowd-pullers Bongo Maffin and Aba Shante featuring Iyaya; the Bob Dylan of Africa, Ismael Lo; Afro-funk-meister Ringo Madlingozi; Nalee; Chaka Khan; Kenny Lattimore; Skeem featuring E’Smile; local rock gods Just Jinger, multiple Grammy-nominated James Ingram, Shankar – renowned for mixing South Indian classical with pop rock and world music, South Africn stadium-packers Springbok Nude Girls and reggae king Lucky Dube. (Rapper LL CoolJ pulled out on Wednesday.) South Africa has come quite a way since we derived cheap thrills from the presence of boycott-busters like Elton John, George Benson and Queen.
“Tickets are selling like hot cakes,” says Mpho Ndlovu, a spokesman for the 80th Birthday Promotions Company. In fact, the 12-hour jol at the Johannesburg Stadium on Saturday could echo throughout the coming year, he says.
Though unable to confirm what delights would follow the massive gig, Ndlovu says plans are afoot to organise additional
fundraising events -which means there are guaranteed to be more big thrills in store for music lovers. The cash raised will go into Madiba’s giant philanthropic piggy-bank to be used for “the nation’s educational programmes and the building of recreational facilities”, says Ndlovu. He’s keeping mum on exactly how much cash has been spent on getting the international luminaries here.
Apart from providing thousands of local girls and boys of all ages with reasonable justification to irreparably damage their vocal chords and indiscriminately throw their underwear around, the concert has also provided a showcase for the increasing professionalism of this country’s rapidly expanding music industry.
The excitement started last Saturday afternoon with the arrival of Grammy-nominated R&B star Kenny Latimore – renowned for his simmering funk jams and soulful ballads – and soul veteran Stevie Wonder. Their Jo’burg landing coincided with the frenzy around Mandela’s marriage .
Despite expectations that we’d be swamped by a thronging mass of admirers as the stars waltzed into the arrrivals lounge, the press contingent was judiciously ushered into a private lounge. For all we knew, Wonder and Lattimore could have been beamed down. No crass thronging masses and pushy paparazzi here. The dudes simply sauntered out of a lift into the press room, flanked by an entourage of mean-looking bodyguards. An M&G reporter’s head was almost twisted off his shoulders by one promoter-cum-bodyguard, Morris Roda, when I tried to ask Wonder whether he knew about the marriage. Wonder swifly mumbled something about it being one hell of a coincidence, he and Lattimore sang a verse or two of Wonder’s song Happy Birthday to You (originally composed for Martin Luther King) and before you could say “welcome to Africa, brother” the conference was over.
Getting to these stars is like trying to get to stroke a lion at the zoo. But, frankly who cares who’s sleeping with Skin or what Wonder thinks of Madiba?We’ve got their voices and the biggest groove session since 1994’s post-election parties to look forward to.