The South African guitarist was put in contact with small boats nearby, which could do little to help because they barely had a lifeboat each and there were hundreds of people on board.

Analysis - Composer and educator Michael Mosoeu Moerane (1904-1980) is probably best known for a few evergreen choral works, including Della and Sylvia, still sung by choirs across South Africa today.

Over about a decade of touring in the West, Moctar, 40, has carved out a niche as a modern African guitar hero and one of the very few voices in the pop world calling attention to the struggles of ...