State witness, Mpho Maruping, giving details of what led to the superstar’s brutal death, had told a Johannesburg court that Dube’s killers thought he was a Nigerian.
But ironically, eight years after that death, a Nigerian Rastafarian based in South Africa, Ben Priest, is the lead vocalist of the Lucky Dube Band, one of the legacies of the slain music maestro.
A day after Dube was killed, his web site, said his death “leaves a great void in the music industry as 25 years of music suddenly ends in tragedy.”
It is that gap that the Lucky Dube Band is poised to fill and a Nigerian, Rastaman Ben Priest is one of the persons leading the charge, though he said Dube’s shoes are too big for anyone to step into.
Thokozani Dube, son of the late star said their collaboration with the talented Nigerian artist is a fulfillment of his father’s wish to live together as one. “Ben is our brother and we worked together as one,” the younger Dube said as the band performed in Namibia on October 18, 2015 to mark the eight anniversary of Lucky Dube’s forced exit.
The reggae singer, Ben Priest, was at Blake Excellence Resort in Abuja recently, where his scintillating performance brought back vivid memories of Lucky Dube.
The Boki, Cross River State-born singer, who migrated to South Africa in 2008, said the band was determined to sustain Dube’s legacies.
His words: “We have come out with a new album titled, ‘Celebrating his life’, a 10-track album and I am the lead singer. This unique album is a tribute offering to the late legend on his 51st birthday. The effort is to advance the legacies of Lucky Dube. In celebrating his life, we are talking about a good man, father, preacher; a prophet that really touched the lives of people with his message. He was a very philosophical person. Everybody could relate easily with his message, message of peace and unification of mankind.”
Ironically, Ben Priest did not play with Lucky Dube while he was alive.
Read More >>>
No comments:
Post a Comment