Blondie Makhene & Amaqabane - "Too Many People" (South African Protest Song; original versions & live version)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases two sound files of the 1980s South African protest song [apartheid struggle song] "Too Many People" by Blondie Makhene & Amaqabane.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, inspirational, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Blondie Makhene and Amaqabane, and thanks to all of the freedom fighters in South Africa and elsewhere throughout the world.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publishers of these song files with photos.

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SHOWCASE EXAMPLES
Example #1: Blondie Makhene-Too many people (Original Version)



thando mvimbi, Published on Jan 6, 2018
-snip-
From https://www.reverbnation.com/blondiemakhene?popup_bio=true
"About the Artist: Blondie Makhene
Soweto’s first teen star (1969) Multi-platinum selling producer Music Director in the movie Mandela: Long Walk To Freedom Co-producer of Brenda Fassie hits such as “Weekend Special” and ”Life Is Going On” Producer of the AIDS awareness song “Vuka Africa”
SAMA winning producer on the album “Time” by Hugh Masekela
Composer in Leon Schuster’s: Mr. Bones (Gwarra Gwarra Song)
Longest playing television jingle "For The Love Of The Game" on S.A.B.C."
-snip-
Blondie Makhene's music is listed in that website as "R&B/Soul/ Traditional

Although there are a number of Amaqabane videos on YouTube, unfortunately, I can't find any information about Amaqabane online.

Any information about Amaqabane would be greatly appreciated.

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Example #2: Blondie Makhene & Amaqabane - Too Many People



ZoZoZu, Published on Dec 5, 2016

Amaqabane!!! This song just hits home. What do y'all think? Did it strike a chord with you? Leave a comment in the comments section below.

(P.S. I felt that by using pictures of the South African people's struggles/ problems [poverty, unemployment, tertiary education etc] today, one would be able to relate and the song would be more relevant today.)

I do hope you've enjoyed it.
-snip-
Click https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKEpPXby3bQ for a video of Blondie Makhene singing this song.
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread (with numbers added for referencing purposes only)
1. Mbeha Jeff, 2017
"This is the kind of music from South Africa which was appreciated way beyond South African borders, inspired us Namibians quite a lot, please upload more of this, I have been looking for this music for the past 15years.."

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REPLY
Sarah Mofolo, 2017
"was we were blessed with with music"

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3. Thabani Ntuli, 2017
"Too Many People are suffering what an emotional song if you know the history of our country South Africa!"

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4. kwanele peter, 2017
"mmm looking at the events that are happening here in South Africa shows very clear that Black people are still oppressed. drawing back from history up to recent events.
1. Colonization
2. Apartheid
3. 1976 Soweto uprising
4. Marikana massacre
Now: Fess Must Fall
and our own Government so called the father of the nation don't even care about us. and the main thing that oppress us is Authority, Laws that was introduced to us by the outsiders in order to divide us as we are right now. we have no strength for collaboration.
U.M.Z.A.B.A.L.A.Z.O W.O.M.U.N.T.U O.M.N.Y.A.M.A A.W.P.H.E.L.I.L.E
The painful thing is that we are now fighting amongst ourselves.
Thanks for this Song Brother"

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5. thando mvimbi, 2017
"Don't you have the original version of this song, as well?"

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REPLY
6. ZoZoZu, 2017
"Uxolo sisi, I don't have it... Is there another version?"

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REPLY
7. thando mvimbi, 2017
"Yes there is, this one I think its a live version,there was one that was aways played during late 80s"

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REPLY
8. ZoZoZu, 2017
"Oh wow. Thanks for that information. I'll do my research. :)"

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9. environmental management research centre, 2017
"A bomb song. Only knew of it kuZaziwa here in Zimbabwe"
-snip-
"Bomb" here probably has the African American Vernacular English meaning of "very good", although the way it is used is "That song is the bomb", and not "a bomb song".

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10. utnab champ, 2017
"This song is still relevant today 😢"

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11. Sizwe Ndlanzi, 2018
"It's a painful song, very symbolic of our current struggle for EQUALITY!"

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12. Daphney Lekalakala, 2018
"wat is wrong being a black child y the suffering y are we killed for own land viva to freedom Viva"

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13. Mafioso, 2018
"Our fellow black brothers and sisters, when will the day come when the suffering ends, when will we stop saying "' kuzolunga''. get up and fix it mannnnn"
-snip-
Google translates gives the English translation for the Zulu word "kuzolunga" as "will". My guess is that in this sentence that word means "will you" (asking others for something or to do something).

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OfficialTellA GuyK, 2018
"💛❤ I just stopped for a minute & repeated the song again, as a Humanitarian myself i feel bad cause i see a lot of people suffering from poverty, unloved, chaos & war. Oh! My country i wish..."

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