In this song from the Radio Africa album, Latin Quarter sing about the civil rights movement in the USA, which started in the 1950’s and fought for the economic and political equality of African Americans.

Steve Skaith sings about the bad news that’s always on the radio about Africa. When the album came out in 1985, South Africa was still governed by racist apartheid policies. In the interest of overcoming language and cultural barriers, Latin Quarter and Steve Skaith provided subtitles AND translations on their album covers!

Latin Quarter is a British band combining pop, reggae and folk rock, well known for their political and social protest songs. The most successful of these is “Radio Africa”, which has been reissued several times and has neared the top of the charts in many countries.

This song is about Nomzamo Winifred Mandela, wife of Nelson Mandela, who was arrested in 1963 and sentenced to life in prison. She’s one of nine children and her people, the Xhosa fought nine big wars against the white settlers, in the 18th and 19th century.

From Latin Quarter’s first album Modern times: It is a long way from the bazaars in North Africa, in which leather goods and Berber carpets are sold, to the car factories in which each movement is measured in units of time and you don’t earn much. Maybe you came all the way to Toulouse, in order to lose?

Latin Quarter: The election of Ronald Reagan to President of the USA and subsequent swing to the political right horrified many people. “Bed-Time for Bonzo”: One of Reagan’s last movies in which his co-star, a chimpanzee named Bonzo, was the better actor.

A journalist sits at his smeared desk, eats cheap beans from the can and writes the “Truth about John Lennon”. His client is a national tabloid daily paper. His source a young woman, who wants to cash in on a long forgotten affair. But she is unable to write her story alone and needs a ghostwriter, who’s now killing Lennon for the second time. A song by Latin Quarter.

Latin Quarter’s song “Phil Ochs” is about the death of a protest singer of the 1960’s and of that which died with him. Phil Ochs was a talented singer-songwriter of the 1960s who addressed all manner of anti-war, civil rights, labour, and social justice issues in America. He took his own life in 1976.

British band Latin Quarter formed in 1983 and released six albums, the subject matter of their songs often expressing their strong political views. The title of this song "No rope as long as time" was a saying of black South Africans meaning no amount of oppression could halt their eventual freedom. The band reunited in 2011, twenty-one years after splitting up, and has since released two more albums.

Latin Quarter perform live at the Full House club in Hannover, Germany. The British band has a big fan base in Germany.

Latin Quarter is a British band formed in 1983. At this concert, filmed in Hannover, they play "Donovan's Doorway," an ode to the city of Liverpool.