Customer Reviews

Sangoma

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

It's certainly a beautiful CD, with gorgeous music. But... I grew up with the music of Miriam Makeba on her older LP's, and quite frankly, her voice during the 60's and 70's was so exceptionally beautiful -- I truly think hers was one of the 2 or 3 greatest voices I've heard, up there with Ella -- that it's just not the same. Don't let me dissuade you from buying this CD, it's very, very good, and anyone who likes, traditional S. African music will *really* like this CD. But if you want to hear the real Makeba, with a voice so beautiful it sends a chill down your spine, you have to go to earlier materials. I hope the record companies release her early material some day.

IÕve had a cassette of this album in my car for more than a decade, and IÕm sure IÕve played it more than any of the dozens of other cassettes in the car. ItÕs one of the few I never get tired of hearing. Since the songs are all in Xhosa, I had no idea what Miriam Makeba was singing about, but there was something so warm and uplifting, so healing, about her voice, and the lilting rhythms of the songs, that meaning didnÕt seem to matter. Only recently I glanced at the liner notes and realized that most of the songs are essentially prayers. They call on the spirits of ancestors for help or strength, or praise them for the help theyÕve given. ItÕs transcendent, spiritual music Š which I guess at some level I knew all along, even without understanding the words. That the sense of the songs is clear even if you donÕt understand the language tells you a lot about the power of Miriam MakebaÕs singing.

My six-year-old daughter also loves this album, and often asks me to play it. (She says her favorite singers are Raffi, Ella Fitzgerald and Miriam Makeba Š an interesting trio.) I suspect MakebaÕs warmth comes through to any listener, no matter what their age. This is some of the most moving music IÕve ever heard.

I grew up with just one of Miriam Makeba's albums, the only one available at that time, simply called: Miriam Makeba. Technology has outdated the record albums, replaced with tapes and now cd's. I love this album. Reading the insert, I find that Miriam Makeba is not only the singer, but she is the choir. Every voice in the background is Miriam Makeba. Recorded and re-recorded, it must have been an amazing effort for her. This album records songs passed on from generations past. It is good to know that these South African treasures will remain, I am assuming the songs are of Zulu origin.