adminto bring together people from all walks of life without much effort. It is more powerful than politics and this is why politicians in Zimbabwe hold musical galas every year or use music in their political campaigns.
We all know how Bob Marley changed the face of Jamaica and influenced the rest of the world by simply singing political songs such as “Redemption Song”, “Zimbabwe”, “Chant Down Babylon”, “Buffalo Soldier”, “Get Up Stand Up, Stand Up for Your Rights”, “Blackman Redemption”, and “War”, to mention only a few.
We also know how Bob Marley brought together two rival politicians — Michael Manley and Edward Seaga — during his peace concert in Jamaica. That is the power of music. It can move governments.
During Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence, song and dance played a pivotal role in unifying the freedom fighters and the masses at the same time raising their morale through messages that defined the purpose of the armed struggle.
In a bid to preserve the morale of freedom fighters in camps and the morale of the masses at home, song and dance was used to educate, inform and entertain. For instance, Comrade Chinx led the guerrillas with songs like “Maruza Imi” and “Vapambi vePfumi”. Freedom fighters used music and dance at all-night gatherings called mapungwe to educate the masses (povo) about the objectives of the armed struggle.
Within Zimbabwe, Thomas Mapfumo’s “Pfumvu Paruzevha”, “Gwindingwi Rine Shumba”, “Zimbabwe YeVatema”, “Pamuromo Chete” and “Hokoyo” are examples of political songs that inspired the masses during the armed struggle.
Among the freedom fighters, there were specifically talented young men and women who composed songs that helped to boost the morale of the fighters.
Talented comrades such as Cde Vhu, LMG Choir and Cde Chinx Chingaira composed the songs that were sung during the liberation struggle. Groups like Kasongo Band which comprised Knowledge Kunenyati, Marko Sibanda, Mukoma Ketai Muchawaya and others also churned out songs that motivated the cadres who were at the front to continue fighting the enemy.
Despite hardships such as hunger, sickness, isolation from relatives and injuries which the freedom fighters experienced, music provided a sense of hope and surety of a clear future, where Zimbabwe was going to be totally free from colonial bondage.
At a time when the comrades lacked necessary weapons to fight the enemy that was better equipped and again at a time when the fighters had to soldier on against harsh weather conditions, music provided a ray of hope.
Music gave the freedom fighters the impetus to maintain their unwavering stance against the brutal Rhodesian regime.
Zimbabwe became independent from colonial oppression on April 18 1980 with the event also celebrated in song and dance. Today, despite independence, that song and dance is still part of the political landscape of Zimbabwe. Comrade Chinx is still at it, more than 32 years later. Other players such as Mbare Chimurenga Choir, The Born-Free Crew have come in to boost the fortunes of some politicians. This shows you how important the role played by music is.
If Oliver Mtukudzi decides to lead a musical campaign for some politicians in the forthcoming elections, there is no doubt that he will play a significant role in influencing the outcome. And should he decide to stand himself, he will no doubt have a future in politics due to the influence of his music.
The connection between music and politics, particularly political expression in music, is evident in many cultures. Although music influences political movements and rituals, it is very clear how general audiences relate to music on a political level.
Time has also shown how music can be used in anti-establishment or protest themes, including anti-war songs. Music can also be used in pro-establishment ideas, for example in national anthems, patriotic songs and political campaigns.
John Lennon of the Beatles fame sang “Please Give Peace a Chance” during the Vietnam War and that became a household tune for those Americans who were against the Vietnam War.
Unlike many other types of music, political music is not usually ambiguous, and is used to portray a specific political message. Even in other Western countries such as Britain, overtly political pop acts like U2, the Clash, or Rage Against the Machine, while the political message in their music is apparent, it is usually in the political context of the time and place it was made.
This makes understanding the historical events and time that inspired the music essential to fully understanding the message in the music. Since political music is meant to be heard by the people, it is often meant to be popular.
Very often, musicians who are already popular will find it easy to lure their audiences into singing their political compositions, but to those who do not have large audiences behind them, this might be an uphill task.
For example, little-known rock musicians Bleich and Zillmann found that despite student protests at universities, highly rebellious students did not enjoy their defiant rock videos more than did their less rebellious peers, nor did they consume more defiant rock music than did their peers. The difficulty in predicting and understanding an audience is partly due to the fact that there is an extremely diverse range of styles, and structure involved in musical production and marketing.
In Zimbabwe, Last Chiyangwa, a.k.a Tambaoga, during the 2002 elections, came out with the song “Agrimende” which had the lyrics, “The only Blair I know is a toilet”. Chanting down Tony Blair was the political thing at the time. Despite non-stop airplay on ZBC’s stations, the people received this song with mixed feelings as Tambaoga was a little-known artiste and the song did not bring him much money as very few people bought it. However, politicians certainly noticed him.
Another musician from the City of Gweru, Joseph T. Nhara, a.k.a. Man Soul Jah, who fronted the People Against Cruel Existence reggae band, recorded a series of political albums such as “Dreams of a Freedom Fighter”, “I’m Still Standing” and “Smile Zimbabwe” with tracks like Lacksley Castell’s composition, “Give us the Land”, Mr Government Man”, “War, Aids and Esap” and “Poor People” which assisted in delivering political messages to the people. It was through this political music that he was at one time appointed head of ZBC’s Power FM radio station in Gweru.
In 2003, Leonard Karikoga Zhakata released the album “Hondo” which did not receive any airplay. Leonard suspects that this was due to its political message which did not please the establishment as it spoke about the suffering of the masses. Analysts claim that if airplay had been allowed it probably would have inspired the masses to rise against the establishment.
In Britain, since the late 1970s, punk rock has been associated with various left wing or anti-establishment ideologies, including socialism.
Punk’s culture and disregard for musical virtuosity held an obvious attraction for those on the left — mirroring as it does, workers’ control of the means of production, and empowerment of the powerless. Punk rock as a whole became popular largely through the efforts of groups such as The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Millions of Dead Cops, Blondie and XTC which all came to be associated with anarchism.
The sincerity of many of these bands has been questioned. Many people saw the use of anarchism in early punk as a joke or fashion statement more than an ideology — but over time bands such as Crass in the UK and Dead Kennedys in America who held strong anarchist views, emerged, and over time this association strengthened. Punk rock thus became a more serious movement.
These bands have been known to use political and sometimes controversial lyrics that attack the establishment, sexism, capitalism, racism, colonialism and other social conflicts they see as problems in society.
The Sex Pistols’ song, “God Save the Queen”, was banned from broadcast by the BBC due to perceptions that it was anti-monarchy. This song was highly controversial, firstly for its equation of the Queen with a “Fascist regime” and secondly for its claim that England had “no future”.
Despite the ban, a punk rock culture was created and hundreds of thousands of youths in Britain identified by their rainbow-coloured hairstyles and nose rings became punk rock followers with an anti-establishment culture.
This eventually spread to many parts of the globe. Cultures, political movements and rituals have been known to be influenced by musical trends. Needless to say, therefore, music can influence political events.
Fred Zindi is a professor at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a musician and an author of several books on music. He can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected]
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