Blues for Tiro, A

Poetic and gritty, A Blues for Tiro pays tribute to black consciousness activist and inspirational leader Onkgopotse Abraham Ramothibi Tiro, who was murdered in 1974. Told through searing artistic imagery and moving interviews with family and friends, the life of an extraordinary man emerges. Born in 1945 in the small village of Dinokana, Tiro worked on the mines after finishing his matric. He then enrolled at Turfloop University, and became involved in militant student politics. His famous speech at the university in 1972 sparked a major student revolt, which many say inspired the 1976 youth uprising. One of the first black consciousness leaders to go into exile, Tiro was killed by a parcel bomb sent to him in Botswana. With Bonginkosi Ngwato aka Prophet supplying a lyrical narrative over a sinuous jazz-blues soundtrack, A Blues for Tiro provides a soulful cinematic slice of South African history.