Brenda special tribute planned
2004-10-24 23:20
Welcome Skosana
Johannesburg - The spirit of the late South African queen of pop, Brenda Fassie, will once more be celebrated when e.tv broadcasts a documentary, Brenda Fassie Weekend Special, as a tribute to the township princess.
The documentary, set to be screened this Thursday, takes its title from Fassie's early 1980s chart-busting pop hit, Weekend Special. Fassie, dubbed the "Madonna of the Townships" by Time Magazine, led a colourful life which the documentary has managed to capture, according to e.tv.
The programme, produced by e.tv's senior producer Lilian Wilkinson, features several of the pop diva's close friends and relatives.
Wilkinson said the programme would be a fitting acknowledgment of someone who occupied a special place in the minds and hearts of South Africans. "Indeed, a 'shero' will be remembered."
Meanwhile, EMI Music has announced the international release of Brenda's greatest-hits album.
The album will be released in 20 countries, including the US, Britain, France, Germany, Canada and Australia next week.
Titled The Madonna of the Townships, it features 20 songs from the star's career, spanning more than two-decades.
EMI this week announced it would donate all profits to 46664, an arm of the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
From her humble beginnings in the township of Langa, Cape Town, where she was born, the 19-year-old Brenda burst into the limelight in 1983 with the hit Weekend Special, the fastest-selling record in South African history.
The song also enjoyed success in Britain, Europe, Brazil, Australia and the US, where it spent eight weeks on the charts.
In 1998 Brenda released Memeza, which became one of SA's biggest-selling albums, achieving sales in excess of 600 000, platinum status 12 times over.
There followed a string of highly successful releases: Amadlozi in 1999, Nomakanjani in 2000, Mina Nawe in 2001, Myekeleni in 2002 and Mali last year.
Brenda became such a prominent figure that, before she died, visitors to her hospital bed included such luminaries as Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, President Thabo Mbeki and the Minister of Arts and Culture, Pallo Jordan. The singing sensation died last May, aged 39.
- City Press