oto Essay and Report from Taurai Maduna
Thousands of music lovers in Johannesburg braved the chilly winter night on May 24 to attend the free Africa Day Music Concert at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown. This year’s annual concert marked the 45th anniversary of Africa Day, May 25 (which celebrates African history, heritage and culture).
 
The line up at the concert included Senegalese Ismael Lo, Zimbabwean mbira songstress Chiwoniso Maraire, Grammy award winners Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Dobet Gnahore from Cote d' Ivore, Mapumba from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenyan Eric Wainaina and the Mahotella Queens from South Africa.

The concert was broadcast live in South Africa on SABC 2 and across the continent on SABC Africa. At a press conference a day before the show, the musicians condemned the xenophobic violence that has rocked the country over the past two weeks and that has left 56 people dead and more than 50,000 homeless.

Zimbabwean songstress Chiwoniso Maraire called on South Africans to have more compassion. She said, "for a person to leave their home and come into another country is not an easy decision", she added, "sometimes we forget this as people that we need to develop compassion for each other, we need to sit and think about why is this person here and why is this person in this situation and what can I do to help this person".

Hilda Toubatla from the South African band the Mahotella Queens apologized to fellow Africans for the recent attacks. She said, "Let there be peace amongst us, we are definitely sorry about what happened and what is still happening. Hence today I am saying to South Africans lets not kill the people, they are here to save themselves".

Kenyan musician Eric Wainaina, who's committed himself to issues of social justice, pleaded with South Africans citizens to put a stop to the violence. He added, they should never forget the help given to them by the rest of Africa during Apartheid.








































Contributed by: Taurai Maduna