The Weeping song recalls the Freedom-struggle in South Africa




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Click here to view the lyrics of "Weeping"
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Click here to read a little about Vusi Mahlasela's story
Click here to view a very compressed history of the anti Apartheid movement in South Africa
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Dan Heymann's composition "Weeping" is a song of protest from South Africa, written during the years of white domination, while he was an unwilling soldier, drafted into the army.
The Weeping song, upon first release in 1987, spent two weeks at number one on the government-run radio station in South Africa, when the official censors didn't react to the anti-oppression nature of the Weeping song.
That first release of the Weeping song contained an instrumental line from the anthem of the African National Congress, and that anthem later became the National Anthem of the liberated South Africa.
The words of the Weeping song refer to one of the last leaders of the oppressive Apartheid regime in South Africa, P. W. Botha.

The Weeping song has been released in several recordings:
The first recording of the Weeping song to appear was by the South African band, Bright Blue, in which the writer of the Weeping song, Dan Heymann, played keyboards.
Next came a version of the Weeping song for the South African movie, "Ipi Tombi", followed by "techno" rendition of the Weeping song released by Qkumba Zoo, another South African band.
Almost simultaneously, the Soweto String Quartet (with vocals provided by Vusi Mahlasela) released the Weeping song with a string-based accompaniment.
Later, the Weeping song lyrics was performed in Afrikaans by Coenie de Villiers, and then James Stewart approached the Weeping song with more of a rock treatment.

The Weeping song in the new millennium is still attracting attention.
The Kearsney College Choir in south Africa lent a choral treatment to the Weeping song, and later Jinny Sagorin in Boston offered her rendition of the Weeping song, for a cabaret setting.
More recently, the Soweto Gospel Choir gave a gospel angle to the Weeping song.

And now, Josh Groban has done the Weeping song, for release in November, 2006, on his CD, "Awake".


Here's the cover-artwork for existing releases of "Weeping", as far as I know:

1987: Bright Blue (on the flip-side of our "forty-five" Yesterday Night)
Weeping: Cover-art from 1st version
1993: Various personnel (recorded for Ipi Tombi movie soundtrack)
Weeping: Cover-art from 2nd version
1996: Qkumba Zoo (on their CD Wake Up & Dream)
Weeping: Cover-art from 3rd version
1996: Soweto String Quartet (on their CD Renaissance, with guest vocalist Vusi Mahlasela)
Weeping: Cover-art from 4th version
Around 1997: Coenie de Villiers (with lyrics in Afrikaans, on his CD Solo)
Weeping: Cover-art from 5th version
Year unknown: James Stewart (on his CD Eklektik)
Weeping: Cover-art from 6th version
2000: Kearsney College Choir (on their CD Road to the Olympics)
Weeping: Cover-art from 7th version
2004: Jinny Sagorin (on her CD It's For You)
Weeping: Cover-art from 8th version
2004: Soweto Gospel Choir (on their CD Blessed)
Weeping: Cover-art from 9th version
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Weeping , written by Dan Heymann (sometimes mis-spelled as Dan Heyman ), is a famous protest song that emerged from the South African anti Apartheid movement during the mid-1980's, and this song of freedom has been recorded by many artists, including noted South African band Bright Blue and, more recently, Josh Groban , in a collaboration with Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Vusi Mahlasela , who has previously released a solo recording of this song of protest . The anti Apartheid lyrics Weeping contains are among the most-recorded freedom song lyrics of any protest song to have come out of South Africa. The Weeping song (rights to which are partially controlled by Muffled Music ) led to a February, 2006, encounter between singer Josh Groban and songwriter Dan Heymann (occasionally mis-spelled as Heyman ) at New York City's Sony Studios, a legendary institution which has given many a song freedom to soar. It was a thrill for Dan to hear his anti Apartheid song being recorded by such a high-caliber team. Having been a musician in contact with various anti-Apartheid movements during the Freedom-Struggle in South Africa, when examining the Weeping lyrics , Dan was thrilled to feel the connection of his lyric to protest song tradition. When the time came to add backing vocals, nobody needed to teach Vusi Mahlasela lyrics to the Weeping song , having already performed it live so many times, and this new rendition of Dan's familiar rhyming- lyric protest song should give the song freedom to reach many new listeners. Many protest songs were inspired by the anti Apartheid movement and Dan is proud that his freedom song has been so well-received, particularly when there are already so many wonderful anti-Apartheid protest song lyrics in existence.