adminFred Zindi Music
We have had several Bob Marley commemoration concerts in Zimbabwe each year since 1982. Indeed, he was and still is an international superstar who Zimbabweans can identify with because his music contributed a lot to the liberation of Zimbabwe from the colonial grip. However, equal in stature, is another international star, Lucky Dube, who died six years ago and also sang many revolutionary songs and songs of peace. Lucky Dube lived less than 2 000 kilometres away from Zimbabwe. Bob Marley lived many thousands of miles away from
Africa yet we seem to give priority to commemorating him every year over and above our own people. Is it not time we also started thinking about remembering Lucky Dube every year? Not only that, we should also be at the forefront of commemorating our own local musical heroes on a large scale. We have now had three years of Simon Chimbetu tribute concerts with the last one held in August. This is commendable. We have also had Leonard Dembo commemorations. The list of our fallen heroes is endless and music promoters should start thinking about celebrating the lives of heroes such as John Chibadura, Andy Brown, Chiwoniso Maraire and Prince Tendai, to mention only a few.
I am glad to note that the local reggae band, Transit Crew, have started the ball rolling by staging a concert in commemoration of Lucky Dube which was held at the Book Café last week. This event can escalate to a bigger thing every October if promoters take it seriously.
The month of October always brings sad memories as we approach yet another year of commemorating the death of Lucky Dube, who was assassinated at the age of 43, on October 18 2007.
He was gunned down in the presence of his son and daughter, whom he had dropped off in Rosettenville, Johannesburg, in what is alleged to be a car hijacking crime.
Although the Rastafarians in Jamaica do not believe in death, it is difficult for me to follow that tradition and simply state that, “Him just pass through”, as they say. Ironically, Lucky Dube’s first reggae album was entitled “Rastas Never Die”, obviously is support of Rastafarian beliefs about death.
To millions of Africans, the murder of Lucky Dube in 2007 silenced their voice of hope as he was a messenger of peace. He used his music to advocate for inter-racial harmony and Black consciousness, especially after experiencing years of apartheid in South Africa.
Although his music is associated with the Rastafarians, a movement which is invariably linked to the smoking of ganja, Lucky did not drink or smoke.
Lucky Dube’s death signifies how much criminals disregard human life. No words can adequately express this grotesque barbaric behaviour. I, personally, feel utter revulsion at this callous act.
Born in Emelo (formerly Eastern Transvaal), Mpumalanga on August 3 1964, he was raised by his mother, Sarah, who named him “Lucky” after several failed pregnancies. She considered his birth as fortunate or lucky. Lucky’s father, who is believed to be Zimbabwean, had separated from his mother. Lucky shared a shack with his mother, brother Patrick and sister Thandi.
Before he reached the age of 10, being the eldest, he was already working as a gardener to support the family income. However, he realised he was not earning enough money, so he started going to school where he began to learn English. It was during his school days that he joined his first band, The Skyway Band, which played mbaq’anga music. At the age of 18, after leaving school, he joined the Love Brothers Band while he was also working as a security guard for Hole and Cooke Security Company in Midrand.
His first break came when he was signed by Teal Record Company with the Supersoul Band. He recorded five mbaq’anga albums and toured within South Africa and the region doing backing vocals for Steve Kekana.
During the live performances, he noted that fans were responding positively to reggae. He went back to the drawing board and took inspiration from Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh whose socio-political messages about Jamaica he deemed relevant to the South African racist society.
In 1984, Lucky Dube made the decision to use reggae as his genre of music and released his first reggae album, “Rastas Never Die”.
The reception to this was rather mild as he only sold 4 000 copies, but the follow-up album, “Think About The Children” released in 1985, was an instant hit as it achieved platinum sales status. This straight away put Lucky Dube on the international map and established him as South Africa’s biggest reggae artist.
For the next five years, Lucky toured the UK, Holland, Australia. America, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia and many other countries. He also appeared at the 1991 Reggae Sunsplash in Jamaica where even the originators of reggae had recognised his strength and talent in that genre of music.
In 1989 he achieved the OKTV award for his album “Prisoner” while in 1990 he received another award for “Captured Live”.
His next album, “Victim”, sold over a million copies. When Motown Records in the USA heard about this successful singer, they signed him on in 1995 and in 1996 “Serious Reggae Business” gave Lucky the Best Selling African Recording Artiste award at the World Music Awards ceremony. He also won the International Music Artiste of the Year award in Ghana in 1996.
Warner Music, another American outfit, negotiated a deal which saw the release of “Respect” which was Dube’s last recording before his death.
Although it was widely reported that he was a victim of a hijacking crime, there are several unanswered questions. Yes, he was gunned down in a horrendous criminal act, but why was his car not taken away? Why was nothing stolen from him? What was the real motive behind the killing? Only Lucky’s murderers have the answers to these questions.
Most musicians such as the late Bob Marley and the late Peter Tosh of Jamaica, when writing songs, tended to relate more with the suffering and impoverished masses. “Equal Rights and Justice”, “Blackman Redemption” and “Zimbabwe” are examples of songs which support this thinking. In Zimbabwe the likes of Dr Thomas Mapfumo churned out songs such as “Pfumvu paRuzevha”, “Corruption” and “Zimbabwe yaVatema” which all identify with the downtrodden masses.
As the popularity of these artistes grows, they become easy targets for anyone who does not agree with the messages they are sending across. This appears to be what happened in Lucky Dube’s case. His award-winning albums such as “Slave”, “Prisoner”, “Together As One” and “Respect” made Lucky Dube one of the world’s leading reggae icons and also an easy target.
Five men were arrested in connection with his murder and two tried to escape but were caught. However, the men were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2009. There is no capital punishment in South Africa.
To commemorate his death, “Retrospective”, a compilation album was released in October 2008.
Death is one aspect of life modern technology has failed to improve on. Despite man’s efforts to defeat death, we have all failed in that area. Everyone has to go at some point.
Death is the only immortal who treats us all alike, whose peace and whose refuge are for all; the soiled and the pure, the rich and the poor, the loved and the unloved. It is particularly painful when the one we love dearly has departed from this earth. Lucky Dube was loved by millions of his fans.
Lucky Dube, a real performer, singer/songwriter, musician, freedom fighter and a leading reggae icon in Africa and the rest of the world, will be sadly missed. He deserves a place in our history. As we remember him, an annual event in his name is in order. May his soul rest in eternal peace. Jah bless!
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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