Composer’s predicament in African state — and his own, we hear (8,7)
I believe the answer is:
benjamin britten
'composer's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'predicament in african state and his own we hear' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'predicament' could be 'jam' (jam can mean a tricky situation) and 'jam' is located in the answer.
'in' is within the answer.
'state' could be 'ri' (Rhode Island abbreviation) and 'ri' is located in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for benjamin britten that I've seen before include "British composer of "Peter Grimes"" , "He composed" .)