Is pro-gay statement a publicity stunt?

stage.
I attended his performance at the Kebab Centre in Newlands, Harare, over the weekend. The supporting acts included King Kodza, Potato, Sister Thanda, Crucial Mix, I-Water and Mic Inity.
They all gave a good account of themselves for the simple reason that these musicians have been together for a long time and are well rehearsed.

But when it came to the main act, one did not need to be a music expert to know that there was something missing in the musical opus. Lutan Fyah was assisted by Zimbabwe’s finest local reggae musicians who called themselves the Chirwa-ites Band with Isaac Chirwa on bass, Spencer (from Mufakose) on guitar, Trevor Hall (Ras Jabulani) on percussion, Jairos Hambamba on keyboards, Dennis on guitar, Costa on drums and Gus on second keyboard, trumpet and saxophone.

Given more time, there is no doubt that these musicians would have done a better job.
Isaac told me that they only had three days’ rehearsal in which they struggled to familiarise themselves with Lutan’s songs. The sound system was perfect, thanks to Chimusoro for his professional output.
The venue was surprisingly suitable and adequate although it could have done with more people.
There were an estimated 500 people at the gig. Despite all these positives, there was something definitely amiss at this show. Simply put, I have seen better performances. We were expecting songs such as “Save the Juvenile” which has anti-gay connotations but he did not sing this as Lutan says he has no problem with gay people at all as they are minding their own business.

It is refreshing to come across one Jamaican dancehall artiste who is “open-hearted and tolerant” to homosexuals.
Quite a number of dancehall artistes have been known to be associated with violence and anti-homosexual (battyman) lyrics.
They have been criticised by many international organisations for preaching hatred.
A lot of Jamaican artistes like Lutan Fyah have now come to realise that hate speech is not good for business and is putting dancehall music into disrepute.

They have also realised that the anti-homosexual stance taken by some of them is the real reason why Buju Banton is serving a prison sentence in one of the American penitentiaries.
Jailing Buju Banton for trading in drugs was just a front. It is said that the homosexuality community was so outraged by his 1992 song “Boom Bye Bye” in which he advocated for the shooting of homosexuals and they decided to set a drugs trap for him.

Dancehall artistes should know that people like Elton John, Boy George and George Michael (to mention only a few) are powerful and influential.
I asked King Sounds on his recent visit to Zimbabwe why Jamaican musicians were so obsessed with anti-gay lyrics as evidenced by his song “Spend One Night Inna Babylon” (in which he sings “Man live with Man”. Woman live with Beast. Jah Vex, Jah Vex, Jah Vex!”)

He admitted that homosexuality is hated not only by reggae musicians, but by all Jamaicans. I said to him that homosexuality was not the only “evil” thing on earth. There are other evil doings such as smoking of ganja, murder, robbery, rape and drug trafficking but I am yet to hear reggae artistes condemn these evil things with the same passion as they do homosexuality. Besides, homosexuals are more easily identifiable when compared to murderers or rapists. So why expose them to anti-battyman hate groups?

A lot of dancehall artistes have been lambasted for their lyrics calling for violence against gay people. In 2003 British LBGT group known as OUTRAGE called for the arrest and prosecution of several dancehall stars including Sizzla Kalonji, Elephant Man, Bounty Killer and Beenie Man for violation of hate crime statutes. In 2004, Elephant Man was dropped from the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) awards because of his homophobic stance. Since then, a number of dancehall artistes who have been pressurised by both record companies and music promoters have begun to make a U-turn as they have realised that being homophobic does not make business sense. Most of them now prefer to avoid songs with lyrics deemed to incite homophobic violence.

Lutan Fyah, who says he has no problem with gay people who are minding their own business, however says that he would really like to “burn out” all the Catholic priests who sodomise young boys. (Is that not the same thing, Lutan?)
A lot of people think that Lutan’s statement is just a publicity stunt to put himself in the limelight following the recent Sizzla Kalonji incident at the recent Coke Zero Concert in Montego Bay after he sang his own version of Buju Banton’s “Boom Bye-Bye”.

Well, one gets the impression that not all Jamaicans of the Rastafari movement are in league with this anti-gay phobia. A lot of reggae musicians also want to promote their own stuff but are clouded or blocked by mainstream dancehall which more and more presents a very metro-sexual image which hits close to the stereotypes used in anti gay lyrics.
Lutan Fyah, who is known for songs such as “St Jago De La Vega” and “Save the Juvenile”, wants to set the record straight after seeing what he described as a “misunderstanding of his lyrics” in one newspaper.

The matter at hand, he said, was the “bunning out” of homosexuals which he was said to have done at the recent Western Consciousness stage show.
According to Lutan Fyah, this was not the case.

“Yuh always have some people inna the media weh seh me a bun out homosexuality but anuh suh it guh, mi a bun out the Catholic priests dem weh a molest the youth dem when dem guh a church,” Lutan Fyah said in disgust over a newspaper report which claimed he was anti-gay.
He explained: “Mi sing it di other day at Western Consciousness and mi see where the paper tek it an seh mi a bun out gays. Is not even something weh mi guh studio an record, is just a lyric weh mi jus guh di stage show dem an sing.”

He went on to say that he does not have an issue with homosexuals because he does not care what one does if it does not harm anybody.

“Really an truly mi nuh business if a man waan have im boyfriend, but mi do lyrics offa the situation weh mi see wid the Catholic priests dem but di way how dem write it a like seh mi guh pon stage an bun out the people for no reason,” he said.
Due to the misunderstanding, Lutan Fyah said he has missed out on a show and he doesn’t want the matter to get out of hand.

“Mi even lost a show because of the mix-up. The promoter read what dem write and was worrying that corporate sponsors would pull out and cancel di ting. Anuh like seh yuh see nuh bag a gay a run mi dung fi ban mi or nothing but mi want it fi stop before it even reach dem stage deh,” he said.
Lutan Fyah said he will now be singing more cultural, roots and friendly songs. He is busy working on his new album and singles and is promoting his latest single, “Be Mine”‘, for which he is organising a video shoot.

A recent write-up on his last CD “Phantom War” by music reviewer, Rick Anderson says: “The big turban and the prominence of fire imagery may have you wearily anticipating yet another hour-long screed on the perfidy of women, the destruction of homosexuals, and the desirability of killing Babylonians by fire, but Lutan Fyah’s take on ‘Bobo Dread’ doctrine is refreshingly open-hearted and tolerant. ‘Screaming for the Poor’ is more sad than angry, and it’s a lovely song to boot.”

Looks like Lutan Fyah, like many new dancehall artistes, is truly against hate speech against homosexuals, perhaps to avoid being left out of concerts or recording deals by music promoters or record companies. It is now a question of wait and see!
Let’s continue to watch this story if it goes any further.
Peace and tolerance.

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