First of all, I felt The Mammals were the best group at this year's Festival International and wish there were more artists or groups that someone who doesn't speak a foreign language could enjoy ("Don't Play It Again, Sam," May 18).
I'm truly sorry for those numerous (five, 10 or 50) calls you received about The Mammals' song, "The Bush Boys," but if your attendance was more than 200,000, I don't see what the problem was. I was at The Mammals' show and heard nothing but applause.
Will you have the lyric police at every stage next year, regardless of what language the song is being sung in? To say that artists like Thomas Mapfumo & Blacks Unlimited and South Africa's Lucky Dube's songs about protesting corrupt government aren't an issue is about as hypocritical as it gets. Woody Guthrie must be turning over in his grave now.
I for one am glad The Mammals played and hope they come back next year. More importantly, I hope we never censor our music, especially those who sing in English. Like they do with CDs, if you have to put a parental guidance sign on the stage, do it; but don't ban good music because some folks don't like the lyrics.