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Anti-apartheid singer dies in US
26/05/2008 21:07 - (SA)
Lagos - A Nigerian Afro-reggae musician, Sunny Okosuns, renowned for his anti-apartheid songs in the 1970s and 1980s has died at the age of 61, colleagues said on Monday.
Okosuns, 61, died on Sunday in the US following a battle against cancer of the colon, they said.
He featured on the front page of many national newspapers on Monday.
His hit songs, Papa's Land and Fire in Soweto, challenged whites-only rule in South Africa before the Soweto uprising in June 1976.
Okosuns' Holy Wars, was a song in support of the liberation struggle in Africa, especially in southern African region, including SA, Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.
He also sang the praises of African freedom fighters and independence heroes, such as Nelson Mandela, Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Angola's Augostino Neto and Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria.
Okosun later became a gospel musician and founded a church in Lagos. He was a former national president of the union of Nigerian musicians.
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South Africa
