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Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales

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Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales

By: Nelson Mandela
Narrated by: Desmond Tutu, Alan Rickman, Whoopi Goldberg, Matt Damon, Parminder Nagra, Forest Whitaker, Sean Hayes, Charlize Theron, Benjamin Bratt, Scarlett Johansson, Ricardo Chavira, Debra Messing, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Hugh Jackman, Gillian Anderson
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Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales is an extraordinary audiobook featuring Gillian Anderson, Benjamin Bratt, LeVar Burton, Ricardo Chavira, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Whoopi Goldberg, Sean Hayes, Hugh Jackman, Samuel L. Jackson, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Scarlett Johansson, Debra Messing, Helen Mirren, Parminder Nagra, Sophie Okonedo, CCH Pounder, Alan Rickman, Jurnee Smollett, Charlize Theron, Blair Underwood, Forest Whitaker and Alfre Woodard with a special message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Original Music by South African legends by Johnny Clegg and Vusi Mahlasela, Directed by Alfre Woodard. The audiobook was a truly international affair recorded in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, London, and Johannesburg.

The stories were chosen by the Nobel Laureate himself, from every region of Africa.


"We hope this audiobook will be enjoyed by people of all ages across the globe, increasing awareness of Africa's rich cultures while creating a better future for South Africa's most vulnerable children," said ANSA Executive Director Sharon Gelman.

In his original foreword for the folktales, Nelson Mandela wrote, "It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller may never die in Africa, that all the children of the world may experience the wonder of books." The audiobook brings his vision full circle, as these timeless tales return to the oral tradition to be heard around the world. African Americas Black & African American Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths Fantasy Literature & Fiction Social Sciences United States World Literature
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Some absolutely SUPERB readings - admittedly, some are too fast - but these are such wonderfully original stories, so different from the usual run-of-the-mill repeats of repeats of repeats that I was completely captivated from the moment Alan Rickman said the first word (It's Alan Rickman - of course I was captivated!). But every narrator with these delicious tales made me want to hear more. As did the GORGEOUS African singing and music that was used in some of the pieces and included at the end... I particularly loved the story of the witch, dragon, baboon, and flying carpet (not what you might think) and LOVED the narration. There are some very creative and funny narrators who kept me entertained with the different voices they used for their characters.
As a white female Brit, the tired old tales we have, seemingly mostly from Europe, do not inspire me or fill me with joy. These did. Almost as if being predominantly from a land of sunshine somehow made them brighter.
If I had children, I would definitely use these as bedtime tales. As I don't, I use them as MY bedtime tales.
I think this collection of stories, short as it is, is absolutely worth paying for.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! (notice TWO exclamation marks 😁)

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Comical, creative and captivating! Was a pleasurable listening experience. Good for the kids before bedtime or play it in the car.

Great!

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Lovely collection of folk stories, but the narration performances were uneven. Somewhere lovely but others butchered word pronunciation and did awkward accents or over-acted. Would have been nice to hear this collection narrated by African actors, but I guess they picked western actors for marketing purposes.

Cute folk tales

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Delightful tales well narrated by various actors. I would have given it a 5 star rating if some of the actors had bothered to learn the pronunciations of African nouns. And it would have been interesting if we'd been told who was reading what.

Pleasing

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A few of the readers were a little weak, but most were top quality, and the stories were all very interesting to hear.

Well read and fun to listen to

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