"Singing the Spirit Home" is certainly a moving a song.

Breytenbach, who spent seven years in prison in South Africa for fighting Apartheid, spoke of the songs sung by the men about to die themselves. He said you could hear how their voices and singing changed as they entered the week before their hanging. Apparently, it was usual for more than one person to be executed at a time. On the less frequent occasions when only one man was scheduled to die, he could often be heard singing throughout the night before his death.

Breytenbach went on to say that one could virtually 'hear' all the other inmates listening. They would lay on their cots, quiet, but would stay awake and listen intently all night long to the condemned man singing.

I truly can not convey how powerful this piece by Breytenbach is. The whole recording is 11 minutes, and is terribly moving and unsettling. I hope others open this thread and then go listen to it.

Janie