As usual, my dialup connection can't really handle this, but I hope it works for others.
Here's the article copied and pasted for you.
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From The Daily Dispatch (South Africa):
REMEMBERED: Lucky Dube will be fondly remembered by South African music lovers – and internationally – after his murder on Thursday night.
Condolences from across the spectrum
By LINDILE SIFILE
THE MUSIC fraternity is reeling with shock at the violent death of
SA reggae legend Lucky Dube on Thursday night.
The Slave star was shot dead in a botched hijacking in Johannesburg after dropping off his two children, aged 15 and 16.
Police spokesperson Cheryl Engelbrecht said the 43-year-old musician was travelling in his grey Chrysler when the three men
attacked him. The killers fled the scene in a blue VW Polo, leaving the musician’s car behind.
“His son was already out of the car. When he saw what was happening, he ran to ask for help.” The children were unhurt in the incident, which happened at 8.20pm.
Gauteng police commissioner
Perumal Naidoo has reportedly handpicked a seven-member team to track down Dube’s killers.
Dube’s longtime friend and manager of 20 years, Antos Stella, spoke to the Saturday Dispatch from Ghana, describing the killing as ‘senseless’.
“I’m devastated and angry
because I’m sitting here and there’s nothing I can do,” said Stella, who was on a business trip at the time.
Stella played a vital role when Dube began his career in the reggae genre after he had quit Mbaqanga in the early 1980s. The two also travelled together to the Reggae SunFestival in Jamaica in 1991.
“He was the first South African artist to ever feature in that festival. At the time, we weren’t allowed to go overseas so we had to leave our passports at customs in Montego,” said Stella.
They had since travelled to countries such as Ghana and Rwanda.
Most musicians the Dispatch spoke to yesterday said Dube was never properly recognised by the very same stations that were playing his music yesterday after his death.
For the first time in ages, MetroFM played two of his tracks yesterday.
Dube’s fans were also snatching up his CDs at East London’s stores yesterday. Nicky Wolmarans, an employee at Music Mix in Vincent, said about 10 of Dube’s CD were bought yesterday, a rare occurrence in a single day. An employee at Musica in Oxford Street said they had to turn customers away as they had run out of stock.
“It’s a painful thing that we don’t show pride of our talent when they are still alive. Maybe when I’m dead you will hear my music on Y-FM,” said McCoy Mrubata.
Mrubata played and toured with Dube’s band between 1994 and 1995.
“It’s a great loss not only to music but to the development of the country too. He was a generous man who even helped children from poor families with funds so they can go to school. I know one boy who is a doctor today because of Lucky,” said Mrubata.
Erstwhile disco queen Mercy Pakela slammed the country for failing to honour Dube while he was still alive. “He was among the most selling musician to come out of this country. He is the only reggae musician from SA to stand by their genre of music. Don’t tell me we could not see that.
“Our media has adopted a bad culture of neglecting our own while American musicians flourish in our own back yard.” Pakela played with Dube between 1987 and 1990.
“It saddens me that the media is suddenly interested in Lucky when they were not playing his music when he was alive. They did the same thing with Mahlatini.
“South Africans have forgotten to celebrate his legacy while other African countries continued to pump his music. But Rastas Never Die, said Stella, quoting one of Dube’s songs.
l Meanwhile condolences came from across the political and cultural spectrum, with everyone from President Thabo Mbeki to the South African Football Players Union praising Dube’s legacy and raising concerns about the level of crime.
Mbeki made an appeal to South Africans to confront the “scourge” of crime together. “This is ... very, very sad that this happened to an outstanding South African, an outstanding musician, world renowned,” he said as he was leaving for France to support the Boks.
Mbeki conveyed his condolences to the family and also to Dube’s fans around the world.
Deputy President Phumzile
Mlambo-Ngcuka said: “For more than two decades he confronted pertinent social and political issues through his music, bringing to the fore the pain and suffering of many South Africans.”
Arts and Culture Minister Pallo Jordan called him one of the most “important and relevant” reggae voices to come out of this country in the 20th century. “What makes his death more painful is that it happened at a time when government has renewed its pledge to forge a partnership with people, communities and their institutions to fight crime.” — Additional reporting by Sapa
That was really thoughtful--thanks! But by "my dialup connection can't really handle this," I meant the video I posted. I, and probably other dialup users, can view a linked text page just fine.
I'm adding a colon for more clarity.
Last edited by bluenoter; October-20th-2007 at 07:59 PM.
That was really thoughtful--thanks! But by "my dialup connection can't really handle this," I meant the video I posted. I, and probably other dialup users, can view a linked text page just fine.
I'm adding a colon for more clarity.
Oops!
Here's another story from South Africa:
Mail & Guardian Online reporter and Sapa | Johannesburg, South Africa
18 October 2007 11:38
Reggae musician Lucky Dube was shot dead in a hijacking on Thursday in Rosettenville, Johannesburg police said.
Captain Cheryl Engelbrecht said the incident took place at about 8.20pm when Dube (43) was driving in the Johannesburg suburb.
She said Dube was dropping off his son in the area when he was attacked. "His son was already out of the car. When he saw what was happening, he ran to ask for help."
The hijackers were still at large. The boy was too traumatised to provide police with any information, Engelbrecht said.
Dube, born in Johannesburg on August 3 1964, was named "Lucky" as he was born in poor health and doctors thought he would die, according to Wikipedia. But Dube survived and went on to become a front-line artist in the reggae genre. However, the singer's website, Luckydubemusic.com, says: "Giving birth to a boy was considered a blessing and his mother considered his birth so fortunate that she aptly named him Lucky."
He recorded more than 20 albums in his music career, which spanned more than 20 years, according to Luckydubemusic.com. His albums include Rastas Never Die, Think about the Children, Soul Taker and Trinity. His latest, released in 2006, is called Respect.
The build-up to this international success, though, started in 1982 with the release of Kudala Ngikuncenga, an album that was not reggae but mbaqanga, a genre that was to serve him well for four more albums until his transition to reggae in 1985.
"The change was brought about by the fact that I wanted to reach the world. With mbaqanga I would have been seen as a tourist musician," he told the Mail & Guardian in an interview in 2001.
"Don’t waste your time and mine,” a concert promoter told Richard Siluma, Dube’s producer at the time. “No one wants to hear reggae.”
By 1987, Dube was the sole reggae star among South African "disco" acts and established music acts such as Brenda Fassie, Stimela and the Soul Brothers.
His introduction to the international stage was heartening, such as when he was invited to play at the Sunsplash Festival in Jamaica in 1991. He recalled how the spiritual home of reggae had been waiting for him and his band. "We knew they love the music. They said we remind them of Peter Tosh." On the final evening of the festival they were called back for an encore -- and for another performance the next year.
The reggae sensation, who did not drink or smoke cigarettes or marijuana, despite the association of the substance with Rastafarians, had won more than 20 awards for his music contribution locally and internationally. He is the only South African artist to have a record signed to Motown Records, according to Luckydubemusic.com.
His reception on the international stage had been mixed, however. European audiences had argued that he sang world music and local audiences felt his music had changed to an extent that it flew over them.
This did not seem to bother him. "We have found that locally the audience does not grow with you. People expect me to still be doing Ayobayo, yet that was 1987 and this is 2001," he said in the M&G interview.
Dube always had to fend off questions of whether he was Rastafarian. "If Rastafarianism is about having dreadlocks, smoking marijuana and believing that Haile Selassie is God, then I am not Rastafarian. But if it is about political, social and personal consciousness, then, yes, I am," he said.
Although his idol was Peter Tosh, he acknowledged the unshakeable influence of the king of reggae, Bob Marley, whom he described as "the reason we know reggae".
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Originally Posted by bluenoter
