I was just reading an interview with my favourites Vampire Weekend in The Guardian and they list Brenda Fassie as an influence

Joe writes: Brenda Fassie was one of the biggest artists in South Africa, selling millions of each album.

There was a plan to break her in Britain with remixes of Vuli Ndlela but nothing ever came of it. What a brilliant track though. Incredible vocal. It definitely could have been a hit in the Northern Hemisphere. It's from her Memeza album which has this extraordinary artwork:


I once visited the Cape Town township where Brenda grew up. Here's a photo:



Brenda Fassie - Vuli Ndlela (iTunes)

Vampire Weekend

This band have been written about rather a lot on the blogs already and rightly so. They sound to me like they are obviously destined success in the way that The Killers were destined for success. They have anthems that should walk on to the radio. Some people don't agree at all and see them as rather a niche band at best. I can only think this is because of the unusual lyrical themes. In their songwriting and sense of melody, they remind me of The Kinks. And I love the traditional South African element to their sound (think Paul Simon Graceland). They're also bright, nice, ambitious and good looking.

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma (iTunes)