New Release - Thula Sizwe
Thula Sizwe / I Shall Be Released is now available on all music platforms!
Spotify | Apple Music | Amazon Music
This is the culmination of a journey that stretches back to 1990, when Malcolm du Plessis, founder of Common People, was working with Miriam Makeba on her homecoming recording after Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. It was Malcolm’s idea to bring Miriam and Nina Simone together — two dear friends who somehow had never recorded together.
A Zulu freedom song meets Bob Dylan. Black South Africa meets Black America. Anti-apartheid memory meets Civil Rights memory. Two towering Black women whose voices helped freedom movements remember what they were carrying.
Thirty-six years later, we face a painfully familiar moment. Once again, it is Black women who are leading, organizing, grieving, strategizing, gathering, resisting, praying, laughing, and refusing to let hope die. We hope this song (and music video) will help to celebrate, empower, and catalyze in the coming days.
Call To Action
We’re asking friends and allies to help carry this song on release day.
Songs do not travel through marketing budgets. They travel because people decide they matter.
Please post a clip, share the video, repost the Instagram carousel, or send directly to someone who will understand why it matters. We invite you to use this song wherever it can help carry memory and courage — on social media, in newsletters, events, congregations, classrooms, gatherings, and movement spaces.
More release assets available here: commonpeople.cc/thula
Member discussion