Global Hit – Burning Spear

Burning Spear has always wanted to travel to and give concerts in Africa.

But he never did — UNTIL last year.

SPEAR: “You got to be careful going into Africa to perform. You deal more with the government. It wasn’t the right set of people and I think the time wasn’t right. And so, I think the time was the right time in 2007.”

Burning Spear went to Kenya after the United Nations invited him to do so.

The U-N was hoping that a concert by Burning Spear could help unify the country during a bitter and violent election year.

Despite the tensions, 65,000 Kenyans came together for Burning Spear’s three hour show.

SPEAR: “When I went to Kenya I brought a oneness to the people. Kenya was like up and down, people against people. A lot of things were going down in Kenya. So, for Burning Spear in Kenya it brought a oneness to people and brought all the people together. People were jumping and shouting and laughing and having a nice time.”

You can feel those vibes on this song from Burning Spear’s new album.

SPEAR: “What I would like to say to all the leaders in Africa, ‘you can’t look back on your losses. Don’t look back on your losses Africa, don’t look back now.’ Only if you come together you can gain more than what you lost.”