A Change Is Gonna Come: Music for Human Rights review – musical depths in cliche-free protest songs

Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonThis celebration of political anthems – performed by Carleen Anderson, Speech Debelle, Nikki Yeoh and Nubya Garcia – transformed them into compelling artThe soulful protest song has proved difficult to master but easy to parody. Even the classics are problematic: Billie Holiday’s desiccated, tuneless, unswinging Strange Fruit is easier to admire than love; Prince’s Sign O’ the Times and the Stylistics’ People Make the World Go...

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