Yamkela

Album: The Great Depression (2005)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Yamkela was a street kid that Blindside's lead vocalist Christian Lindskog befriended during a mission trip to South Africa. Lindskog told musicomh.com: "My lyrics have to be personal to me and connected, there has to be a real emotional attachment, and as such I tend to write about what I'm going through at a given time. Yamkela for instance was written about a 10-year old boy I met in South Africa while accompanying my wife on a research trip last year. He was living on the street, his father was not around, his house had burnt down and his mother died of HIV. He had the AIDS virus too, but despite all of that he was full of joy and happiness. Amongst all that suffering and pain he was able to be happy and enjoy life. So that really hit home to me and put things in perspective in a big way." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Tim - PGH, PA

Comments: 1

  • Trevor from Grand Rapids, MiYamkela is my good friend and is alive and well!
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Harold Brown of War

Harold Brown of WarSongwriter Interviews

A founding member of the band War, Harold gives a first-person account of one of the most important periods in music history.

Christmas Songs

Christmas SongsFact or Fiction

Rudolf, Bob Dylan and the Singing Dogs all show up in this Fact or Fiction for seasonal favorites.

Fire On The Stage

Fire On The StageSong Writing

When you have a song called "Fire," it's tempting to set one - these guys did.

Amanda Palmer

Amanda PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Call us crazy, but we like it when an artist comes around who doesn't mesh with the status quo.

Michael Schenker

Michael SchenkerSongwriter Interviews

The Scorpions and UFO guitarist is also a very prolific songwriter - he explains how he writes with his various groups, and why he was so keen to get out of Germany and into England.

P.F. Sloan

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.