Edi Niederlander – Reflections From Pre-Liberation South-Africa

From the 1950s right through to the 90s there was a torch of liberal thought being kept burning by various individuals and organisations, fighting for basic human rights and opposing Apartheid within South Africa. Edi Niederlander was part of a loose movement, which rose to prominence in the 80s. She performed in coffee bars and folk clubs and at freedom rallies and marches. She and other South African “singer-songwriters” like Johnny Clegg and Sipho Mchunu, Paul Klingman, Roger Lucy, to name only a few, provided some of the musical grist for a local youth revolution! Many of the songs on this album were restricted for airplay by the policy of censorship at the state run radio and TV services, SABC. A review of some of the recordings recently, spurred us to re-issue a selection to Celebrate 10 years of Democracy. Edi agreed to record something new, to add to the collection. She took her guitars into the studio in December 2003 and recorded 2 songs. Still demanding, she had written after a wave of workers protests in 1990 and the blues number Maybe tomorrow, was written in 2000. Neither had been issued on record before. Edi’s lyrics are not solely politically motivated. Her love songs, songs of social concern and spiritual aspirations, are also important in her repertoire, as are her instrumental pieces, so examples of these have been added to this retrospective. In addition to the 2 new tracks, there are 12 songs including Edi’s seminal, Ancient dust of Africa and the title track from her second LP, Hear no evil. These tracks were all re-mastered from the original mix tapes. A 12-page booklet presents all the lyrics to the songs.

Track Listing:
1. Ancient Dust of Africa - 3:49   2. Hear No Evil - 4:59   3. Keep On Running - 3:32   4. Of Love Itself - 5:18   5. Maybe Tomorrow - 4:21   6. Breaking Free Blues - 2:52   7. Still Demanding - 3:33   8. Bitter Fruit - 4:11   9. Cum Wi Goh Dung Deh - 3:24   10. The Wheel - 3:56   11. A New Day - 4:12   12. Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu - 3:13   13. Blues Get A Hold - 2:48   14. Voice From The Hill - 5:23