Track Listing

1. Mbube
2. Nomeva
3. Olilili
4. Suliram
5. Retreat Song
6. Click Song
7. Saduva
8. Iya Gaduza
9. Lakutshn Ilanga
10. Umhome
11. Amampondo
12. Dubula
13. Kwedini
14. Umhome
15. Pole Mze
16. Fleuve
17. Qhude
18. Mayibuye
19. Maduna
20. Kilimanjaro
21. Kwazulu (In the Land of the Zulus)
22. Nongqongqo (To Those We Love)
23. Khawuleza (Hurry, Mama, Hurry!)
24. Ndodemny Ama (Beware, Verwoerd!)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6625 in Music
• Released on: 2008-03-01
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

finest voice, more traditional accompaniment
Maybe I'm biased because I grew up listening to Makeba, but it's great to find her songs from the 1970's put onto a CD. This was the period when her voice was its absolute finest -- no matter how much you love Makeba's later works, here her voice is like a mix of Dinah Washington's power and Ella Fitzgerald's smoothness. I'm personally not a huge fan of the way so much "world music" today has been subsumed by rock and jazz -- on these songs, although the instruments are western and a few of the songs are somewhat pop, this is the closest you'll get to hearing Makeba sing in a really traditional style. For those of you who tend to listen to Classical music, and are therefore sensitized to inane percussion in today's rock & jazz, you'll very much like the mixes they do here; they keep her voice foremost and frontmost in the composition, so it's more like Makeba singing songs, than like a studio composition. I listen to this one over & over again, & never get tired of it.

songs of infinite love
This collection features recordings made by Mariam Makeba from 1960 to 1965 in the USA. These recordings were responsible for the introduction of South African music to a larger international audience. Makeba's amazing personality shines through all of these songs, affirming her position as the queen of South Africa music. Later Makeba married one of the leaders of the Black Panthers, which caused the Authorities to deport her to Europe. Previous reviews mentioned "the retreat song" and "the click song" as outstanding. I love these songs but for me the second part of the CD (songs 12-24) is even more spectacular. A song of praise for Kenyan leader Jomo Kenyatta ("Pole Mze"), a song of love to the leading quatert of South African revolution - Subukwe, Lutuli, Mandela and Sisulu ("Nogqongqo" from 1965) and the everlasting "Kwazulu". Makeba delivers these with the utmost love that radiates straight into the heart. Through these songs I started to love South African music.

A tour of Makeba's earlier career hits
This album revisits the young Makeba before she became "Mama Africa". The instrumentation is immediately recognizable as early 60s "world beat", but her voice shines through the sometimes syrupy accompaniment. A lot of songs for the money and some of her deserving classics. A nice album and a good addition to an Africa world-beat CD collection.