The Civils Wars held a contest to create the official video for their song "Twenty Years," and the winning video (above) came from South Africa. The story behind the video is explained by folks who made it, the Innerview Production Company:
"Under the apartheid regime in South Africa, many Native South Africans were dispossessed of their land and were forced to leave their families to earn a living and pay taxes by working as cheap labour in the mines across the country. They were banned by law from bringing wives and children with them to the mines as they were considered 'superfluous appendages.' Many of these families were torn apart for extended periods of time, many died of mining related diseases, while some returned to their families after years or even decades apart. The video depicts a Xhosa newlywed couple whose lives are separated for economic and political reasons as the husband leaves to work in the mines to sustain his family financially."
It's a gorgeous little video. Makes me cry every time.
Above: "Barton Hollow," which is also by The Civil Wars (John Paul White and Joy Williams), from the album of the same name.Below: "My First Lover" from the great folk/bluegrass duo Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings. It's from their third CD Time (The Revelator).
And last, a real treat: footage of Welch & Rawlings in a spontaneous performance of Neil Young's beautiful song "Pochahontas."<happy sigh>
