Kelly Kilgore: Free Nelson Mandela

I am very familiar with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, having read the book. President Mandela and Desmond Tutu embody what we Christians like to believe we are like.

However, I cannot think of Nelson Mandela without thinking of this song that haunted me at the time. It is prescient and hopeful and quite moving. I still play it on YouTube when working and it reminds of what can be accomplished by those who never give up hope.

I was in the hospital in New Zealand at the time, and the Kiwis were having their own problems with the South Africans.

“Nelson Mandela” (known in some versions as “Free Nelson Mandela“) is a song written by Jerry Dammersand performed by his Coventry-based band The Special A.K.A. – with lead vocal by Stan Campbell – released on the single Nelson Mandela / Break Down The Door in 1984 as a protest against the imprisonment of Nelson Mandela by the apartheid South African government. Unlike most protest songs, the track is upbeat and celebratory, drawing on musical influences from South Africa. The song reached No.9 in the UK charts and was immensely popular in Africa.

If you have never heard it, check it out.