''Welela'' is an album by the South African musician

Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba ( , ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, ja ...

, released in 1989. It was produced primarily by Sipho Mabuse.

Critical reception

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' wrote that "Makeba mixes old and new on ''Welela'', using a polished modern production to carry recent and traditional songs," and deemed "A Luta Continua" "one of the most infectious agitprop songs of the decade."

Track listing

# "Amampondo" (

) – 5:20 # "African Sunset" (

Sipho Mabuse Sipho Cecil Peter Mabuse (born 2 November 1951), known professionally as Sipho "Hotstix" Mabuse, is a South African singer-songwriter. Mabuse grew up in Soweto. His mother was Zulu people, Zulu and his father was Tswana people, Tswana. Sipho a ...

) – 5:49 # "Djiu De Galinha" (

José Carlos Schwarz José Carlos Schwarz (Bissau, December 6, 1949 – Havana, May 27, 1977) was a Bissau-Guinean poet and musician. Biography José Carlos Schwarz was born in Bissau (Portuguese Guinea) from well-to-do parents of Cape Verde, Cape Verdean, Portugue ...

) – 4:08 # " A luta continua" (Makeba) – 4:40 # "

Soweto Blues "Soweto Blues" is a protest song written by Hugh Masekela and performed by Miriam Makeba. The song is about the Soweto uprising that occurred in 1976, following the decision by the apartheid government of South Africa to make Afrikaans a medium o ...

" (

Hugh Masekela Hugh Ramapolo Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) was a South African trumpeter, flugelhornist, cornetist, singer and composer who was described as "the father of South African jazz". Masekela was known for his jazz compositions and f ...

, S. Todd) – 4:18 # "Welela" (Nelson Lee) – 3:18 # "Hapo Zamani" (Makeba,

Dorothy Masuka Dorothy Masuka (3 September 1935 – 23 February 2019) was a Zimbabwe-born South African jazz singer. Music career Masuka's music was popular in South Africa throughout the 1950s, but when her songs became more serious, the government began que ...

) – 4:29 # "

Pata Pata "Pata Pata" is an Afro-pop dance song popularized internationally by South African singer Miriam Makeba. "Pata Pata" is credited to Makeba and Jerry Ragovoy. Her most popular recording of "Pata Pata" was recorded and released in the United State ...

" (Makeba,

Jerry Ragovoy Jordan "Jerry" Ragovoy (September 4, 1930 – July 13, 2011) was an American songwriter and record producer who wrote several pop songs including the instrumental " Time Is on My Side" (under the pseudonym of Norman Meade for Kai Winding), which ...

) – 3:53 # "Saduva" (Makeba) – 4:43 # "Africa" (Keith Mathela) – 4:33

Personnel

– Lead vocal *Sipho Mabuse, Dorothy Masuka, Doreen Webster – Backing vocals *Keith Mathela –

Guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

s *Claude Deppa –

Trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

*Claudio Pascoli, Michael "Bami" Rose – Sax *Emmanuel "Chulo" Gatewood –

Bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

*Damon Duewhite –

Drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

*Smith Ailar –

Percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

*Loulou Laguerre – Keyboards

Production

*Produced By Sipho Mabuse & Roberto Meglioli *Post-Production By Allan Goldberg *Recorded & Engineered By Toby Alington & Jean Trenchant *Mixed By Sipho Mabuse & Allan Goldberg

References

{{Authority control Miriam Makeba albums 1989 albums Mercury Records albums