February 2, 1990 is the beginning of the end of apartheid. As President F.W. DeKlerk makes this dramatic announcement to Parliament in Cape Town, thousands of marchers fill the streets outside, singing. The perfect harmony echoes off the city buildings.

This is the first joyful taste of liberation, the first gasp of freedom. The song in South Africa is a unison of voice and spirit that seems to be as much a part of life as the air itself. It seems to come out of nowhere, as if no single voice starts it.

They can take away everything else, but not this, the humanity that pours out as song. This is one of the secrets of Africa's survival. This spirit transcends politics, economics, and even religion. It is the element the Afrikaners did not take into account when they designed apartheid.