Greatest Hits

Brenda Fassie | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 30, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Narada
• ASIN: B00067RGE0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,169 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #53 in Music > World Music > Africa > South Africa

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars This Collection is OK, but could be MUCH Better!, February 10, 2006

By 

Timothy D. Nevin "DJ Esperanto" (Gainesville, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

I am a World Music DJ who specializes in African dance music. I love Brenda Fassie- her voice is amazing- and I especially like the 5 or so CD's she released just before her untimely death. This compilation has a lot of her earlier material, which in my opinion is of much inferior quality compared to her later releases- especially when it comes to pumping up the dancefloor energy. When she died, in tribute I compiled my own Best of Brenda collection, and it looks vastly different than this one.
Here is the songlist of the compilation I made which I entitled "Ascension to Ectasy" which begins with her Africa-wide (and to a lesser extent world-wide) hit Vuli Ndela. From there I move on to lesser known songs that nevertheless are real shakers on the dancefloor.
So, here is what a Best of Brenda collection SHOULD look like...
(Song titles follow, with name of album in parentheses)

1. Vuli Ndela (Memeza)
2. Duma Duma (Myekeleni)
3. Ngik' Tholile (Mina
4. Baxakekile Oxam' (Myekeleni)
5. Kesiyile Bana Baka (Myekeleni)
6. Lekwaito (Mina Nawe)
7. Monate (Amadlozi)
8. Sgubu se Zion (Myekeleni)
9. Mpundulu (Nomakanjani?)
10. Akushesh' Akusheshe (Paparazzi)
11. Thola Amadlozi (Amadlozi)
12. Nomakanjani? (Nomakanjani?)
13. Ngohlala Ngi Nje (Mina Nawe)
14. Mama, I'm Sorry (Myekeleni)

-Nuff Said.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great album, June 8, 2005

By 

Katie Bell "mphkatie" (Chapel Hill, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

This album is one that keeps on giving. While working in a remote area of Sudan, we listend to this album, Miriam Makeba and Bob Marley every night. I got tired of Bob quickly, and later requested never to hear Makebas "Click Song" again, but found Brenda had a way of regenerating our tired bodies. Brenda makes you want to get up and dance. It's a great album for almost anything. I find it makes long trips completely wonderful, it is enjoyed by people at parties, and it has been a great album to introduce my young nephews to some world music (They love to wiggle to the beats!!)
The first track Vulin'dlela- has been voted song of the decade and for good reason- you hear it all over Africa- and while it really is a far cry from traditional African Music, and much closer to Mainstream Pop- it embodies the spirit of African urban life. Even if you are not a big fan of African music, this is one album that can easily fit into anyone's collection.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remembering..., June 18, 2006

By 

Encompassed Runner (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Hits (Audio CD)

"Greatest Hits" is greatest not because it's the best Brenda Fassie CD musically (it is not), but because its release is a tribute to the late Brenda Fassie, a lady full of heart with the purest, most powerful voice. Compilations can be tricky for artists who have expressed themselves in very different styles, but to remember the whole of Brenda is to include songs from her earlier pop Big Dudes days to the kwaito and later stuff. Though it's been a couple years and thousands of miles, every June 16th marking the Soweto uprisings I also remember "The Madonna of the Townships" and how she loved her country. (Bongani, all grown up, I appreciated your words on the liner notes, as I remember the days I spent with your mother when you were a baby, how she loved you so.)