With 2014 marking South Africa’s historic 20th anniversary of freedom next year, the release of the Justin Chadwick (The First Grader, The Other Boleyn Girl) directed Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom biopic shows the world the apartheid era that existed in South Africa. The PG-13 movie released nationwide today and stars British actor Idris Elba (The Wire, The Office, Takers) who plays the role of Nelson Mandela alongside Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean, 28 Days Later, Miami Vice) who plays Mandela’s wife, Winnie Mandela.
With 28 years of recording music in South Africa, Yvonne Chaka Chaka reps well. Dubbed, the Princess of Africa, she’s one of the first South African artists to break through on the international stage. A Goodwill ambassador as well as a singer-songwriter, she has performed with Beyonce and Bono but credits Nelson Mandela for blazing a trail for South Africans. “Mandela means a lot to me as a South African woman,” Chaka Chaka told The Source by phone.
“When I started my music I knew that there was a man incarcerated, but he’s fighting for my freedom out there and I started recording songs like Winnie Winnie Mandela.”
Chaka Chaka’s newest album, Amazing Man—her 22nd album—released last month. The 10-track album features some of Africa’s well known and loved artists like Youssou N’dou, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Soweto Gospel Choir and Zuluboy. “How best to say thank you to people who fought for us like Nelson Mandela,” she said. “African leaders fought for us to have our freedom. These are the people who gave me back my dignity. I’m not scared to tell the world that I am South African.”
Chaka Chaka’s single on the album titled Amazing Man is a dedication to the man who spent 27 years at Robben Island Prison in Capetown, South Africa for battling South African apartheid.
Chaka Chaka recalled no one being allowed to view pictures of Nelson Mandela when she was growing up. “We didn’t know what he looked like,” she said. “We knew the name—but it was prohibited to call the name Mandela.”
With the Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom biopic dropping today and depicting Mandela’s powerful movement, Chaka Chaka (who was not involved in the making of it) respects it’s an adequate milestone in South Africa. “Mandela to me means a lot,” she said. “He’s a man who fought for our freedom, a man who does things selflessly to make peoples lives better a man of the world—an amazing man!”
A leader in her own right, Chaka Chaka’s recent documentary film, A Motherland Tour—A Journey of African Women took her on a world tour to promote the successes of those engaged in the daily battle against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
To learn more about Yvonne Chaka Chaka and her work and music, visit her website at http://www.yvonnechakachaka.co.za
Brandon Robinson (@ScoopB)
