THULA SIZWE / I SHALL BE RELEASED
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→ Lyric Video Clip - Dylan Verse, Chorus (56 sec)
→ Lyric Video Clip - Dylan Chorus x2 (53 sec)
→ Lyric Video Clip - Dylan Chorus x3 (1 min 11 sec)
→ Music Video Clip - Zulu Verses x3 (45 sec)
→ Music Video Clip - Zulu Verses x2, Dylan Chorus (56 sec)
→ Music Video Clip - Zulu Verses x3, Dylan Chorus (1 min 11 sec)
→ Music Video Clip - Dylan Chorus, Verses x2 (1 min 20 sec)
→ More clips coming.
CAROUSEL
PRESS RELEASE
A HISTORIC RECORDING RETURNS FOR A MOMENT THAT NEEDS IT
In the wake of the Supreme Court's ruling in Louisiana v. Callais - the latest retreat from voting rights protections in the United States - Black women are once again carrying the work of courage, memory, and public repair.
Common People is releasing a song for this moment.
Thula Sizwe / I Shall Be Released arrives June 12 - a collaboration between Common People, Miriam Makeba, and Nina Simone, drawn from a medley Makeba and Simone recorded in 1990, shortly after Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and Makeba returned to South Africa at his invitation after 31 years in forced exile.
This recording does not preserve the past as artifact. It releases it as fuel.
THE STORY BEHIND THE RECORDING
Malcolm du Plessis, founder of Common People, first proposed the duet with Nina Simone while working with Miriam Makeba on her homecoming recording thirty-six years ago.
Now reimagined and released into an America that increasingly resembles the South Africa of his childhood - a country whose story has never felt more relevant to this nation - the song has found its time.
“Hearing how this came together, I felt the weight of it. And then I looked around at what Black women are carrying right now, and I thought: this song has been waiting for us. And we have been waiting for this song.” - LaTosha Brown, Co-Founder, Black Voters Matter
WHY NOW
The medley bound the lineages of Black America and Black South Africa into a single act of resistance - from a time when music and movement were inseparable. That convergence is returning with force.
Makeba's presence is moving back into popular culture in striking ways. Her 1960s hit Pata Pata appears in this year's blockbuster Project Hail Mary, and Cynthia Erivo is set to portray her in the upcoming feature film The Road Home, filming this month in Cape Town.
The June 12 release arrives during African American Music Appreciation Month, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising, and one week before Juneteenth. As the United States approaches the 2026 midterm elections, the timing feels less like coincidence than necessity.
Clearly, this momentum has not ended. It has only changed hands.
CALL TO ACTION
For press and media: cover it, stream it, add it to playlists.
For supporters and allies: share it on your socials.
Assets above.
Songs do not travel through marketing budgets, but through people deciding they matter.
Press contact: hello@commonpeople.cc