Lest I offend, let me first preface by saying that some of my best friends and family are honkies...
Living in Austin, TX, many moons ago I caught a great show from South African "township jive" or "mbaqanga" group Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens at a club that I'm pretty sure no longer exists called Liberty Lunch. The belated "Lion of Soweto," as at least his promotional material dubs him, was on his first American tour and put on one bass-and-drum heavy, kick-ass show. During a break between songs, Mahlathini addressed the crowd:
Mahlathini: Thank you, thank you, thank you. It is great to be here on our first American tour!
Crowd: Woooooooooo!!!!
Mahlathini: I have to tell you, when I told my friends that I was coming to America, they said "No, no, don't go to America!"
Crowd: Woooooooo..... Waaaaah?
Mahlathini: And so I said, "Why not go to America?" And they said, "Because in America, everyone dances like this!"
(Mahlathini does hilarious physical caricature of Caucasian Benign Arrhythmic Dance Syndrome--or C-BADS)
Crowd: awwwww....
Mahlathini: But! But! But! I am so very happy to say that is not true!
Crowd: WOOOOOO!!!!!
Mahlathini: For some of you!
The following is not Mahlathini performing for honky Texans, it is instead the late, great Fela Kuti performing for some Europeans of unknown variety (and on an unknown date). Yet, it appears to my eye that C-BADS is a perhaps a transatlantic disease.
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