Top 10 Singing Presidents

one of the most disarming moments of this week was the image of President Barack Obama singing at a party at the White House on February 21, 2012.

A man in a powerful position drops the mask  and sings a simply beautiful song, or attempts to… Do we need presidents like that? I think that we do, at least it makes them appear like real human beings.

And it inspired me to look for more songs by presidents or  people in important public functions such as our own Dutch Prime Minister Rutte who loosens up at a popular rave.  Or people in public functions like Julius Malema who shows his true colors when he sings a forbidden song.

Have a peep…

1) President Obama sings Sweet Home Chicago

Blues night at the White House, February 21, 2012

2) Obama sings Al Green ”let’s stay together”

Apollo Theatre, New York, January 19, 2012

3) Haitian president singing with T-vice at Club Indigo in Haiti

4) Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel  

a funny Christmas cut-up with Europe’s two biggest headz

5) Premier Mark Rutte of The Netherlands unwinds at Dance Valley 2011

Mark Rutte is the guy with the dark sunglasses, humming along…

6) Youssou N’dour for president

World famous Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour says he wants to give up music for politics and will run for president of his West African nation.

7) Sudanese President sings السودان البشير يغنى

8) Chinese President Sings “Podmoskovnye Vechera”

Chinese President (President of the People’s Republic of China) sings “Podmoskovnye vechera” (“Moscow Nights”)

9) President Zuma of South Africa  sings Umshini Wam 

The president of the African National Congress(ANC) in South Africa is known for singing ‘Umshini Wam’ which means ‘ my machine gun’. He had been excoriated several times for singing the song because ANC comrades used to sing the song during the apartheid era when they were fighting the evil apartheid government.

10) Julius Malema sings Shoot Kill the Boer song  

This is the Shoot the Boer (kill the boer)  song by Julius Malema, the president of ANC’s Youth League (is he still in that position?).  A song inciting genocide and condoned by Bono of U2 during the U2 tour in South Africa – as you can read in The Telegraph:

“…He was aware of the furore the song had caused, he reportedly told South Africa’s Sunday Times newspaper, but added that protest songs were legitimate parts of political activism. ….The controversial South African song includes a line “shoot the Boer” or “shoot the farmer”, and prompted sustained debate after the murder of Eugene Terreblanche, a white separatist leader…”

see also my previous post Julius Malema speaks!