Sade.

The world hasn't heard much from Helen Folasade Adu in recent years. Her last album came out in 2002 and a concert tour followed shortly thereafter. Since then it's been rumored she married a Jamaican man and had a child, but she has not been a public figure.

With one small exception. In recognition of the genocide occurring in Darfur, which was then something many were not aware of, in 2004 she wrote a song called "Mum," which has a title that can be interpreted two ways - it's at once about the recent passing of her mother (and the brief lyrics reflect that), but it also strikes me as meaning the world has kept "mum" about this tragedy in The Sudan. After all, it's only Arabs killing Blacks.

This song was very hard to find for years, I've spent several years myself trying to track it down as it was only played live as part of a benefit concert in 2005 and then including on a benefit album in 2006 along with songs from other artists. And no, it wasn't included on the much-hyped Imagine: The Campaign To Save Darfur album (any "exclusive" regional version), which in the end seemed a very pretentious title for an album and one which put Yoko Ono back in the spotlight for another 15 minutes and made her a lot more money through exposure of a new generation to her husband's work, though the proceeds from the actual benefit albums went somewhere to help Darfur, I guess. Amnesty International? It all faded so quickly here in the West. What was the last anyone heard about that benefit campaign or the people it was supposed to save? Or about the conflict in Darfur at all? No, we're back to watching American Idol after caring briefly.

Anyways, Sade quietly recorded this song and I finally got hold of both the lyrics and a couple of sites hosting a video made for it, though it does not feature the singer herself. It's a simple, haunting, and beautiful song. What else did you expect?

Click here for a bigger, better video clip.

"Mum"

Mum

These eyes, they are the witnesses
They need no other reasons to cry
And now that they are a river
They will never run dry
They cut you down
Now night is endless
And I wait for morning to come
Lying there helpless
You saw me lose you, mum
And you were the strongest tree
Falling, watching me
The cold eyes of hatred showing you no mercy
So in this darkness, the place I dwell
In it is the darkest well
And as my arms begin to mend
They only wish
To hold you again