Soweto Blues

[1] The song is about the Soweto uprising that occurred in 1976, following the decision by the apartheid government of South Africa to make Afrikaans a medium of instruction at school.

[7][8] The killings sparked off several months of rioting in the Soweto townships, and the protests became an important moment for the anti-Apartheid movement.

"[4] "Soweto Blues" was also one of many melancholic songs by Masekela that expressed his commitment to the anti-apartheid struggle, along with "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)," "Been Gone Far Too Long," "Mama," and "The Coal Train.

[11] Makeba was unable to perform the song in her native South Africa until after her return to the country in June 1990, only a few months after Nelson Mandela was released from prison.

She was given a strong welcome back to her home country and regained her South African citizenship in 1992, the same year that she starred in the film Sarafina!