The cover of Artists United Against Apartheid’s 1985 protest single, “Sun City.”
The new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch will launch its Music + Film Series with “The Making of Sun City” — the 1985 documentary about Artists United Against Apartheid’s protest single “Sun City,” which also came out that year — Sept. 1 at 7:30 p.m. Following the screening, which will take place at the Center’s 240-seat Powell Soundstage, AUAA leader Stevie Van Zandt, who wrote and co-produced the song, will participate in a discussion with the Center’s founding executive director, Bob Santelli.
Tickets will go on sale Aug. 13 at noon; visit springsteencenter.org.
According to a press release, the discussion will cover “the origins and impact of the project, the role musicians can play in movements for social change, and the enduring relationship between music and activism.” The screening is designed to complement the Center’s current exhibit, “Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism, and the Power of Song.”
Center director Eileen Chapman said in the press release that the program “reflects the Center’s commitment to connecting music history with education. TeachRock, the free educational initiative founded by Van Zandt, offers classroom resources and lesson plans centered on Sun City and the history of apartheid.”
The Center opened in June of this year.
Here is the video of the “Sun City” single, which featured Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Bono, Run-DMC, Darlene Love, Lou Reed and many others:
_________________________________________
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
