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Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
- Narrated by: Samuel L. Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Matt Damon, Alan Rickman
- Length: 3 hrs and 43 mins
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Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
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Summary
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.
Net proceeds will benefit the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Artists for New South Africa, which works in the U.S. and South Africa to combat HIV/AIDS, provide comprehensive assistance to children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, advance human rights, educate and empower at-risk youth, and build bonds between both nations. Both organizations are working to address the impact of the AIDS pandemic on children in South Africa.
All the individuals and companies involved in the effort have donated their services to allow a maximum amount of proceeds to benefit the charities. In addition to waiving sales and distribution fees, Hachette Audio will donate 100% of proceeds to ANSA and NMCF, and NB Publishers has waived fees, so additional royalties can benefit NMCF. The audiobook was manufactured by Ivy Hill/Cinram, which is donating a significant portion of their services. The actors, creative director, engineers, graphic designers, attorneys, and recording studios fully donated their services, as did three-time Grammy winner Gavin Lurssen, who mastered the audiobook.
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Editor reviews
in a unique effort to raise money for the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and Artists for New South Africa, 23 narrators recorded as many African Folktales hand-picked by Mandela for this collection. The narrators ranging from Samuel L. Jackson to Whoopi Goldberg to Charlize Theron are notable actors. Half the fun of listening to these tales is trying to guess who's reading. While some voices are more distinctive than others kudos to Alan Rickman (perhaps best known now for his portrayal of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter series) who uses his pebbly baritone and stop-go cadence to full, dark effect in "The Ring of the King" all are entertaining. Also listen for "Fesito Goes to the Market", where Don Cheadle enunciates as loudly, clearly, and confidently as the best live storytellers, while giving each character a different attitude with a remarkable range of tones. Helen Mirren, too, gives a standout performance reaching the point where strength and vulnerability collide in the epic and bittersweet "The Mother Who Turned to Dust".
The stories themselves are classic morality tales, including kings and children, lions and hyenas, gold and magic. Some of the lessons are straightforward, others more cryptic, but each legend is its own full and colorful world. The stories, which average about 10 minutes each, are perfect for children not that they're at all childish. The universal themes hit hard; the tales don't always end happily, but they're light and wondrous enough for children, while being deep enough for adults (or kids) who choose to look further. At under four hours, the collection is short, but there's enough here that you'll want to listen over and over again it's sure to become a favorite bedtime ritual. Kelly MaragesCritic reviews
What listeners say about Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Stephanie Josine
- 14-07-24
Cute folk tales
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Nathan
- 05-12-16
Well read and fun to listen to
A few of the readers were a little weak, but most were top quality, and the stories were all very interesting to hear.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Leticia
- 05-04-18
Great!
Comical, creative and captivating! Was a pleasurable listening experience. Good for the kids before bedtime or play it in the car.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Nancy Bowring
- 06-11-12
Pleasing
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.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sable
- 02-01-24
ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT!! (notice TWO exclamation marks 😁)
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.
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