When You Come Back

Artist: Vusi Mahlasela
Label: Rca
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 743215597421
EAN: 0743215597421
ASIN: B000025596

Release Date: 1997-01-13

Related Categories:

General

| Africa | International | Styles | Music

South Africa

| Africa | International | Styles | Music

General

| International | Styles | Music

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Tracks:

When You Come Back
Melodi Ya Mamelodi
Mañana
Tonkana
Epitoli
Gijimane Masotsha
Hello Mams
In Solitary Confinement
Red Song
Vision
Maybe

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Customer Reviews:

Graceful and poetic.......2002-11-25

Mahlasela has been compared to martyred Chilean protest singer Victor Jara and his melodic songs of yearning described as African Folk. Inevitably he will also be mentioned in the same breath as Robert Wyatt for the political themes of some of his songs. Labels aside, his soulful voice which dips and soars effortlessly from tremulous alto to celestial falsetto is backed by an exquisite mix of guitar, flute, pennywhistle, sax, drums, percussion, bass and keyboards to clothe the poetic lyrics in raiments of sonic ecstacy. No wonder Vusi refers to his singing style as "muso-poetry". Since the album forms such a cohesive whole it's a bit unfair to single out certain songs, but those that speak to the soul with great immediacy include the title track, Epitoli, Gijimane Masotsha, Hello Mams, In Solitary Confinement and especially the almost supernaturally beautiful Tonkana with its African veld samples (cattle lowing etc). No one who grew up on the African continent will be unmoved by this song. This album is as beautiful and accessible as Paul Simon's Graceland.

Vusi is South African Music.......1999-10-16

Like the previous reviewer, I noticed that SA music had lost it's headline acts to the international stage , for better or worse. Then came Vusi. This album is enriched by a mixture of soulful, evocative lyrics which will make a hardened expat cry, coupled with Vusi's incredible voice and his ability to reach his audience naturally without showmanship. Buy it now, you will not regret it. I have bought it several times, only to give it to people to whom I have played it. It is very difficult to make music out of something as harsh as Apartheid and its after effects without sounding strident and trite. Vusi knows how.

Great Music from South Africa.......1999-06-07

When I was there in 1995, I found South Africa's music scene to be fairly barren. The country's great artists -- Johnny Clegg, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Ray Phiri, Hugh Masekela and a handful of others -- had ascended to a global stage, but there had been very little updraft. The biggest influences on music seemed to be bad American pop & rap. I came across Vusi Mahlasela (mot-la-say-la) with a great deal of relief. Here was an artist who combined incredible harmony and a lilting voice (in several languages) with powerful commentary on the post-apartheid scene evolving around him. The title track on this album, for example, is an incredible celebration of exiles returning to South Africa in celebration. Other tracks address retribution and reconciliation. This is a great one and I hope Vusi emerges as one of South Africa's new stars!

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