The wind will blow it higher: “Biko”
<<<Back to page 4
Still playing for change after all these years: Covers
One last credential for “Biko’s” significance as a protest song lies in the extent to which other artists picked it up for their own performances. Some emerged within the anti-apartheid era to join the chorus of protest. One emerged just last month, in August 2017.
Among the first was experimental rock artist Robert Wyatt, on his 1983 EP Work in Progress
Joan Baez recorded the song in 1987.
Simple Minds recorded their version in 1989.
More recently, Paul Simon recorded a version for the Peter Gabriel tribute album And I’ll Scratch Yours. Gabriel recorded Simon’s song “Boy in the Bubble” from Simon’s seminal South African-influenced recording Graceland, for the companion album Scratch My Back. Simon’s work with South African musicians, even though they were Black South African musicians, stirred controversy in breaking the cultural boycott of South Africa. Gabriel and Simon discuss their recordings in the clip below. While Simon doesn’t cite “Biko” as a source of inspiration for Graceland, he discusses how the song affected him, and that one of his band members was a friend of Steve Biko’s.
Here is a link to the Simon performance only.
Most recently, the international street musician collaborative Playing for Change recorded a version of “Biko” in August of 2017. They state that the wind blowing the flames higher expresses the spirit of their work, adding “This is a tribute to all the forgotten heroes of the past who stood for peace and the enlightenment of the human spirit.”
As Drewett notes in his article on the song, “Biko” did not enter the repertoire of songs of the movement within the country, largely because of the ban on the song. In the post-apartheid era, some South African artists have taken it up. The Soweto Gospel Choir performs the third verse and refrain of the song in a medley with Johnny Clegg and Savuka’s song, “Asimbonanga.” Their performance feels to me like a gesture of recognition to the song’s importance in forging solidarity with that struggle. “Asimbonanga” focuses primarily on Nelson Mandela, but name-checks Biko as well.