Artists United Against Apartheid - Sun City

Not long after Band Aid and We Are The World focused musical attention on poverty and famine, a collection of artists took a similar approach in the struggle against apartheid. The initiator was Steven van Zandt - erstwhile guitarist in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band - who whipped up dozens of musicians to work on the project. They included Peter Gabriel, members of U2, Springsteen himself, Hall and Oates, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Run DMC, Lou Reed, Jackson Browne and Keith Richards. Van Zandt wrote and produced the song and it reached the top 40 in several European nations, though not in the US.

Sun City is a large casino resort in the north-west of South Africa. During the apartheid years it was located in 'independent' state of Bophuthatswana, a phoney political entity that enabled white South Africans to visit a casino, gamble and attend strip shows, even though these activities were illegal within South Africa itself. The United Nations placed a cultural ban on artists touring or performing in South Africa - however many notable American and European acts ignored this and received large sums to perform at Sun City's massive auditorium. Amongst those to defy the ban included Linda Ronstadt, Queen, Laura Branigan, Rod Stewart, Julio Iglesias - and, ironically, black singers like Ray Charles, Dionne Warwick and Boney M. As a result, Van Zandt's song continually insists that "I ain't gonna play Sun City":

Twenty-three million can't vote 'cause they're black
We're stabbing our brothers and sisters in the back
I wanna say I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City
I, I, I ain't gonna play Sun City

Boputhuswana is so far away
But we know it's in South Africa
No matter what they say
You can't buy me, I don't care what you pay
Don't ask me Sun City because I ain't gonna play

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[140hazz]

fuck apartheid

[carloswigan]

One of the great protest songs!

[Allen2saint]

And what if thats true? Does that make apartheid any less wrong? Here let me answer for you: No. And why were are the slums like they are? Did they appear by magic? No. They were created by white oppression.

[Larryboy12345]

Funny thing is if the pussyfied white guys in this video were to walk through the black guys "hoods" without cameras on, they'd get robbed, shot, and left by the side of the road, no matter how against apartheid they were. They probably had no idea about that though

[arlichar11]

we need to unite like today to put a stop to the bad stuff goin g on right here in usa

[Kevin Russell]

It's only because \now it is the majority suppressing the minority. The exact same thing happens in the U.S. and the U.K. and Australia which is why you never hear about it. You know there are three million people in jail in the U.S. most of them are used as slave labor for industry working for a dollar a day on pain of solitary confinement. There's precious little hue and cry about that.

[LeCutter]

Boycott Unilever!



[Buster01Actual]

Yeah...this video made a WORLD of difference!!!! AIDS is rampant, corruption is as well, and even the "new" South African Air Force can't even pay for uniforms.

Not to mention rampant crime, car-jackings, home invasions, rapes, etc.

But, hey, celebrities know better than the rest of us.

I'm wondering...just WHERE are all of these "artists" now? They must have found a new cause...

[Peter-John de Kock]

a close friend just reminded me of a useful little anecdote.... Bruce Springsteen, seen in this video in an altogether awful shot, refused to play South Africa. But, he did play in neighbouring Zimbabwe....as did a few other artists circa Tracy Chapman. What did all the white South African's do? I'll give you a hint. Harare is but a 60 minute flight, from Johannesburg.

[Peter-John de Kock]

amen, amen and amen. Now THAT was constructive what he did - as for this bunch??? Had I not accidentally stumbled upon this video it would have remained forgotten.

[Peter-John de Kock]

See, their hearts were in the right place but how much of a difference did this poxy little song make? I'll tell you what?? FUCK ALL! I was a child in the 80's and we still managed to see some pretty major acts at Sun City - and by the way, Sun International never made as much cash as they did out of Sun City in the 80's in fact, if anything - they're in financial trouble NOW. This is where people who potentially could have a big impact, need to employ some thought prior to dumb ass events.