"Sweet Mother" is a highlife song by the Cameroonian and Nigerian singer Prince Nico Mbarga and his band Rocafil Jazz.
The demo-tape of "Sweet Mother" was turned down by EMI in 1974, citing the song's "childish appeal."
The music is West African highlife, with Congolese Soukous-style guitar finger-picking.
"Sweet Mother" went on to become one of the most popular hits in Africa, selling between 3 and 13 million copies.
[3][4] Sometimes called Africa's anthem, it was voted Africa's favourite song by BBC readers and listeners in 2004, coming before Brenda Fassie's "Vuli Ndlela", Fela Kuti's "Lady", Franco's "Mario" and Miriam Makeba's version of "Malaika,"[5] which is a South African classic, sung by Dorothy Masuka in the fifties.