ABC/Craig Sjodin
ABC/Craig SjodinBrian May has been making a pilgrimage of sorts this week, as the Queen guitarist and his wife, Anita, have visited his late band mate Freddie Mercury former childhood home on the African island of Zanzibar.
On Tuesday, May posted a series of photos from his trip, plus commentary about his journey, on his official website and social media pages.
“Under guidance from Freddie’s lovely sister Kashmira, and Abdul, our excellent Zanzibarian guide, we managed to retrace many of Freddie’s childhood steps,” Brian wrote. “This something I dreamed of doing for many years.”
May also posted a photo of him and Anita in front of the home where Freddie and Kashmira lived when they were young, and another at the school the singer attended.
Brian posted another note — accompanied by photo of Freddie as a child — in which he emotionally reflected about Mercury.
“We’ve enjoyed spending the day with this little boy in our minds,” May shared. “A small boy with big dreams. A young man who became a brother to Roger [Taylor] and John [Deacon] and me for 22 years. A shy boy with whom we shared an impossible vision of making music that would change the world. Little did we dare to believe it would actually happen.”
On Wednesday, Brian posted one more message, accompanied by a photo of himself and Anita having lunch while sitting on a sunny beach.
“Farewell to Zanzibar from these intrepid explorers!!!” May wrote. “Thank you, kind and beautiful people of this amazing island. You made us feel so at home.”
Mercury was born on Zanzibar in 1946, and his family lived there until 1964, when they moved to the U.K. The island became part of the country of Tanzania in ’64.
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