Music fans, musicians and political leaders in both Jamaica and South Africa were out in force this weekend to pay tribute to two musical greats - in Jamaica reggae producer Clement 'Sir Coxsone' Dodd, and in South Africa native singing star Brenda Fassie.
Shaggy, Beenie Man and former Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Seaga were among those paying tribute to Dodd, the man behind the island's Studio One recording complex, and the producer who helped launch the careers of both Bob Marley and Lee "Scratch" Perry. Dodd died earlier this month aged 72. In his eulogy, Rev Oswald Tie said Dodd was "a great man, a man who made Jamaican music a household name. His vision gave rise to the sound that brought Jamaica to the world arena."
In Cape Town thousands packed into the city's main stadium to pay respects to Fassie, a singer at the forefront of South African music for 20 years, often referred to as "Madonna of the Townships". Fassie died earlier this month after a long battle against drug addiction. With that in mind President Thabo Mbeki used his funeral address to speak out about drug abuse: "We need to ensure that we save our artists from those problems. We know that even here in Cape Town, even in our schools we already have the problem of drugs. We have got to fight this problem throughout our society, because we had wanted Brenda to live until she was 80 years old."