The Power of Soweto's Song

BENEDICTE KURZEN / EVE FOR TIME

SURVIVOR: Sidumo sings with an emotion that reflects the many troubles she has overcome

You'd expect that winning two Grammies would mean you could give up the day job. But when I meet the Soweto Gospel Choir's co-founder, David Mulovhedzi, at his home outside Johannesburg — two weeks after the choir won Best Traditional World Music Album for the second year running — he apologizes for rushing me. "I have to get back to work," he explains. Work, it turns out, is a job as a finance clerk in a cement wholesale business. "There are 10 people in my family," says Mulovhedzi, 60. "If I don't go to work, they'll starve."

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