I was born in the coal-mining town of Witbank, a hundred miles east of Johannesburg where there was a conglomeration of migrant laborers from Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, Lesotho, Botswana, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and the rest of South Africa. My late grandmother Mthise (may her soul rest in peace) used to brew traditional sorghum beer for the miners who descended upon her she been (speakeasy) on weekends to anesthetize themselves from their miserable underground life in the mines. My sister Barbara and I were raised in her house, and when we would serve the miners their beer in canned fruit bottles and large Jam-cans, they would relate to us the quality of their lives in the mines. In their inebriated euphoria, their tales would often bring tears to our eyes. We were under 5 years old then, and we would talk about their misery before we fell asleep, filed with pity and grief as we dozed into dreamland. This song was also on the "I Am Not Afraid" album. It came to me in upstate New York during the holiday season of 1972 where I spent November through January every year. We assembled the present group at the beginning of 1993 in South Africa, and it has turned out to be the epitome of every combination I have ever dreamed of... to play South African music in its truest contemporary forms. The songs that were chosen for this album are the most enduring songs Of my career. I sincerely hope that this album will bring you as much joy as it has for us in the short time we have been together.

Hope, Peace, Love, Joy ,Happiness, and Liberty

HUGH MASEKELA

LONDON

25 October, 1993