Political Messages in African Music: Assessing Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy

Abstract

Political communication inquiry principally investigates institutions such as governments and congress, and processes such as elections and political advertising. This study takes a largely unexplored route: An assessment of political messages embedded in music, with a focus on the artistic works of three male African music icons—Fela Anikulapo-Kuti (Nigeria), Lucky Dube (South Africa), and Alpha Blondy (Côte d’Ivoire). Methodologically, a purposive sample of the lyrics of songs by the musicians was textually analyzed to identify the themes and nuances in their political messaging. Framing was the theoretical underpinning. This study determined that all three musicians were vocal against corruption, citizen marginalization, and a cessation of wars and bloodshed in the continent.

1. Introduction

Music permeates significant aspects of African society, culture, and tradition. Adebayo (2017, p. 56) opined that “to the African, music is not just a pastime, it is a ritual” that describes the true essence and humaneness in being of African origin. Cudjoe’s (1953, p. 280) description of the place of music among the Ewe people in Ghana typifies this African musical heritage. He observed that “music has an important place in the social life of the Ewe people. There is no activity which does not have music appropriate to it: weaver, farmer and fisherman each sings in perfect time to the rhythmic movement of (one’s) craft … there is also the great social music which accompanies religious, festive and ceremonial occasions”.

African politics and political activities are also impacted by music. For instance, the history of colonialism and independence in the continent will be incomplete without adequate attention to the music and songs that were used to mobilize people to agitate for political freedom. Grundlingh (2004, p. 486) observed that as far back as the 1930s and 1940s “distinctive forms of township music such as marabi carried with them their own implicit and sometimes explicit political messages” against the apartheid system in South Africa.

In spite of music fundamentally impacting African societies, and the fact that some African musicians and musical groups are known for embedding political messages in their lyrics, only a handful of research such as Labinjo (1982); Grass (1986); Onyebadi and Mbunyuza-Memani (2017); and Louw (2017) have specifically examined how African musicians use their platforms for political messaging. The present study adds to the effort to redress this situation through an examination of political messaging by three male African music icons, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Alpha Blondy, and Lucky Dube. The focus on these African music geniuses is partly informed by the fact that they have no doubt left their marks on Africa’s political orbit with their scathing commentaries, criticisms, and messaging against the continent’s unprogressive governments and corrupt political rulers, the squalid and marginalized lives of huge African populations, and the wars, bloodshed, and other social ills that continue to ravage the continent. Fela and Lucky are now dead, but their popularity has arguably not waned.

This study was conceptualized to specifically examine how these iconic musicians explored the following themes in the lyrics of some of their songs: Power and corruption; war, bloodshed, and peace; and the concern for citizens. When combined, the three musicians may have recorded over two hundred songs. However, this study was not devoted to analyzing their entire music repertoire or the diversity of issues addressed in their music. Rather, it is about a purposive sample of their songs with political messages enshrined in the themes above. Methodologically, this study relied on a textual analysis of the songs in order to decipher their meanings. For theory, the author chose framing to shed light on how the musicians presented their messages to their audiences.

The overarching research question in this study is about determining how Fela, Lucky, and Alpha presented political messages in their music on the key themes expressed above.

2. Literature and Theory

Research on music and political messaging is arguably one of the least addressed areas in political communication inquiry. Dominant issues in this research area include the presidency, congress, voter education and behavior, elections, political advertising, and more recently, the impact of new and social media use on inter-personal and group political discussions (Onyebadi 2017). Yet, musicians across the globe are known to use their platforms and lyrics for political messaging. The late reggae icon, Bob Marley, exemplified this form messaging as he sang about Rastafarianism as a force for change in society, while calling attention to the living conditions of the poor in his country, Jamaica (King and Jensen 1995; Zaid 2001). In 2016, the Sweden-based Nobel Prize committee announced Bob Dylan as the winner of the prize for literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”—a statement that can be interpreted as a rhetorical recognition of the political messaging in his music.1

Africa offers a huge tapestry of political messaging through songs and music. Satti (2017) determined that in the 1960s, Sudanese musician, Mohamed Wardi, used his platform to arouse nationalistic fervor among his compatriots and was quick to support democracy as much as he condemned authoritarian and despotic leadership in his country. Gakahu (2017, p. 259) noted that during Kenya’s independence struggle against colonial Britain, “most Mau Mau (freedom fighters) songs were a discourse about liberation from colonial injustices such as torture, rape, massacre, castration, forced labor, high taxation, and land displacement”. In Zimbabwe, Makwambeni (2017, p. 246) argued that during the regime of former President Robert Mugabe, “Zimdancehall music emerged as an alternative public sphere separate from the state where counter discourse is produced and consumed largely by unemployed urban youths who have been excluded from mainstream communicative spaces”. In a rather interesting case of South Africa, Louw (2017, pp. 89–90) pointed out that “Twelve years after Afrikaners lost control of South Africa’s political-system, music became a fulcrum for Afrikaners to begin mouthing discontent about their place within the post-apartheid socio-political order. Their ‘sullen silence’ was broken in 2006 by a song called De la Rey. Because this song’s lyrics so resonated with Afrikaner alienation and frustration, it became an instant hit”. In Nigeria, Adebayo (2017) observed that the 2015 presidential election in the country was largely peaceful because of the positive role played by Nigerian musicians in urging for peaceful polling and the orderly transfer of power. Allen’s (2004, p. 1) overview is that while “public contestation” of issues is largely done through the mass media in Western societies, in Africa “people find other ways of voicing who they are … and what they want. I argue that music constitutes one of the primary media through which such needs are fulfilled”.

However, the use of music for political causes in Africa has not always been very positive. Craig and Mkhize (2006) opined that the anti-Tutsi lyrics in Simon Bikindi’s songs where he called them “cockroaches,” “vicious hyenas”, and “blood-thirsty murderers” contributed to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. On the other hand, musicians who sing against siting presidents in the continent oftentimes face official harassment and jail time. Cloonan (2006, p. 10) presented the case of Tanzania where “the Sukuma artist Kalikali was jailed in 1965 for singing songs about political corruption, despite his longstanding support for the nationalist cause”. South Africa’s musician and anti-apartheid campaigner, the late Miriam Makeba, used her voice to effectively deplore the racist Afrikaner government’s harassment and killing of black nationalists in her country. In response, the government revoked her South African citizenship and she was forced to live in exile for several years. She only returned to her country in 1991 after Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president. The same South African apartheid government in 1975 banned the song Get Up Stand Up, by Bob Marley (originally written with Peter Tosh) because the “authorities were so terrified that his dangerously influential lyrics would incite the people to rise up against them” (Gallardo 2003, p. 203).

2.1. The Musicians

A brief insight into the lives and professional activities of the artists used in this study will facilitate a better understanding of their music and political messaging.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti

Born as Fela Ransome-Kuti, this maverick Nigerian musician made some fundamental changes early in his professional life: (a) Changing his last name to Anikulapo-Kuti, which translates to he who carries death in his pouch, therefore cannot die, and describing “Ransome” as a remnant of British colonialism that was meaningless in his ethnic Yoruba language (Caroll 2013; Olaniyan 2001); (b) abandoning jazz and classical music he learned at the Trinity School of Music in England for Afrobeat music that had a heavy African undertone (Labinjo 1982); (c) renaming his band from Fela and the Koola Lobitos to Fela and the Egypt ’80 (Dosunmu 2010), to reiterate the African foundation of his art; and (d) jettisoning English language and singing in pidgin English, a localized version of English language, thus identifying with and reaching a vast population of ordinary folk in Nigeria and even beyond in West Africa (Veal 2000).

Fela used his music as a weapon to fight corruption, injustice, and the dysfunctional government in Nigeria and Africa. When he died in 1997, the New York Times described him as a “band leader who combined pulsating Afro-beat rhythms and scathing pidgin English lyrics to goad Nigeria’s leaders and denounce their authoritarian regimes … (and) Africa’s most famous musician and his country’s foremost political dissident”.2

Lucky Dube

Lucky Dube’s musical journey began at 18 years old, in his cousin’s band, The Love Brothers. While the band was quite popular playing the mbaqanga traditional music of his Zulu ethnic group in South Africa, Lucky knew that he needed to broaden his audience if his message was to have a significant impact. He subsequently transitioned to reggae music, and explained the shift in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) interview shortly before his death: “Mbaqanga is only known in southern Africa and it’s mostly sung in Zulu. I wanted my music to be heard—my message—not only in South Africa. Reggae music is found everywhere so reggae was my first vehicle to take this message across to people in the world”.3

His principal influences in this transition to reggae were two Jamaican reggae icons, Jimmy Cliff and Peter Tosh. Like his idols, Lucky had clarity and resonance in his message. Ofeibea Quist-Arcton, Africa correspondent of the U.S. National Public Radio (NPR), articulated Lucky’s legacy after his death: “I think many people are going to remember his message. He took issue … (with) bad leaders in Africa, not just in South Africa. He talked to ordinary Africans, telling them that they must overcome the problems of the continent, that they must fight back, but that they must do it with love, respect and, especially, togetherness”.4 In his obituary, the Economist magazine wrote: “He might have sung Zulu township jive all his life, if he had not felt compelled to give ‘a message’ to the world for which reggae was his ideal language. The message was peace, unity, love and respect”.5

In October, 2007, a gang of carjackers shot and killed Lucky Dube as he dropped off two of his kids at his brother’s house in Rosettenville, South of downtown Johannesburg, South Africa.

Alpha Blondy

Côte d’Ivoire’s reggae superstar, Seydou Koné, known internationally as Alpha Blondy, has had a most complicated life that saw him being brought up by his grandmother, expelled from college in 1972, “exiled” to Liberia to continue his college education, then migrating to New York in the United States to finish his English language studies. While in New York, he attended a reggae musical concert by the Jamaican reggae musician, Burning Spear, and was drawn to reggae and its style of socio-political messaging.

He explained the greatest influences on his life in a 2013 interview with United Reggae, an online reggae music magazine: “Bob Marley … the first to come from the ghetto to superstardom. You don’t usually see ghetto people on t.v.! And Burning Spear … and of course my grandmother. She introduced me to African music when she was rearing me”.6

Peace advocacy and the cessation of wars and conflicts in Africa heavily underscore Alpha’s political messaging. In the same United Reggae interview, he articulated his devotion to peace in the continent: “I’m not a politician, but I do try to get them to listen. I try to make them aware of the real human being values. I’m lucky that I can talk to the people. My way of fighting against war for peace is through music. I don’t have the absolute truth, but I try to give hope in my songs”.

2.2. Theory: Framing

Generally, musicians articulate their perceptions of the existential conditions in their community or polity, highlight the importance of those issues and promote and recommend ideas and solutions to their audiences in the lyrics of their songs. This system of communication aligns with the fundamentals of the framing theory. As articulated by Entman (1993, p. 52), framing is the process of “selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communicating text in a way as to promote a particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation”. Tankard et al. (1991) equally recognized the elements of “selection, emphasis, exclusion, and elaboration” in framing an issue. Overall, framing deals with highlighting certain aspects of reality to the exclusion of others not considered relevant and salient (Entman 1991, 1993; Gitlin 1980; Nelson et al. 1997).

This study therefore attempts to feature some of the socio-political issues selected and highlighted by Fela, Lucky, and Alpha through their music. Further attempts were made to categorize these issues in line with another theoretical import of framing. As Iyengar and Simon (1993) suggested, framing can be approached in a thematic or episodic manner. Episodic framing deals with issues and events in no strict order or literally as events or issues pop up, while thematic framing organizes or categorizes those issues and events in a given context and subject matter. Thus, while all three musicians addressed multiple issues in their musical career, this study adopted a more thematic approach in examining their songs with political messaging.

Furthermore, the emphasis in this study is on how the musicians framed and expressed their political messages, not the extent to which they were successful in having their various audiences accept those messages as presented. As Amienyi et al. (2013) and Onyebadi (2017) observed, messages are not always decoded, interpreted, or even accepted as originally conceptualized and framed by their senders.

2.3. Research Question

The research question investigated in this paper is as follows: How did Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Alpha Blondy, and Lucky Dube frame political messages in their music and what themes did they emphasize in their lyrics?

3. Method

This study utilized the qualitative textual analysis in its method. Textual analysis involves the examination, interpretation, and making inferential meaning of given texts, the list of which includes films, musical lyrics, advertisements, and even graffiti (Leff 1992; McKee 2003). It is a qualitative instrument that is best suited for studying small volumes of text (Fairclough 2003).

As a meaning-making and interpretative tool, an analyst using it is susceptible to misinterpreting the original intentions of the message composer (McKee 2003), especially in cross-cultural research. Nevertheless, Bogue (2007) reaffirmed its reliability and appropriateness as a method, especially if the researcher pays attention not just to the texts themselves, but also to the nuances that underscore them. Rein and Springer (1986) also made a similar case and recommended that the analyst should adopt a holistic approach towards determining the significance of the text, and not just a few lines or segments in it. In this regard, Onyebadi and Mbunyuza-Memani (2017) further recommended understanding texts in the context of the time and environment in which they were composed, as well as their target audiences.

Combined, the three musicians in this study may have released over two hundred songs in their illustrious careers. However, fourteen songs which represent a purposive sample of their work were used in this analysis (see Appendix A). Such samples are useful and adequate for research because they are based on decisions made by the researcher regarding “what units (songs, in this case) he or she deems appropriate to include in the sample” (Neuendorf 2002, p. 88).

Unlike the other two musicians, Fela wrote most of his lyrics and sang in pidgin English that is popularly spoken in Nigeria and West Africa. Translations were made by this author who is proficient in both English and pidgin English. While Lucky and Alpha used Reggae as their preferred platforms, Fela originated and played Afrobeat, a blend of highlife music that was popular in West Africa, jazz, and Black-American soul music (Labinjo 1982; Lena and Peterson 2011).

This study also adopted a thematic approach (Iyengar and Simon 1993) in the examination of the songs by all three musicians, categorizing them into three broad subject areas:

(a)

Power and Corruption: Songs about the abuse of power and how people in authority corruptly enrich themselves at the expense of the broader populations. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s songs fall in here.

(b)

War, Bloodshed, and Peace: Songs in this theme are about the cessation of wars and bloodshed in Africa, and appeal for peace in the continent. Alpha Blondy’s songs are represented in this theme.

(c)

Concern for Citizens: These are songs about ordinary citizens, and how the hypocrisy and selfishness of the ruling elite impact the rest of the community. Songs analyzed in this theme belong to Lucky Dube.

4. Analysis and Discussion

4.1. Power and Corruption (Fela)

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti was obsessed with fighting corruption and lambasting government officials who abused their power. Olaniyan (2001, pp. 77–78) observed that what bothered Fela were “tyrannical leadership, political instability, flagrant disregard for rules, and entrenched nepotism as currency of official transactions … His exasperations seem to be not so much with the crises as with their seeming permanence, their normalization.”

In the song, Colonial Mentality (1977), Fela set the stage for his vitriolic criticism of African leaders by describing them as people who were still entrapped in colonial mentality. He sarcastically sang:

He be say you be colonial man	You look like a colonial man
You don be slave man before	You were once a slave
Them don release you now	They have now freed you
But you never release yourself	But you have not freed yourself
I say you fit never release yourself	I say you can’t even free yourself of
Colo-mentality	Colonial mentality

This sarcastic description had been elaborated in the song, Mr. Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss (1975), where he derided the leaders as people whose language and grammatical choices distanced them from the ordinary folk they governed. Fela sang:

They, na de man	He is the man
(Which man?)	Which man
Wey talk oyinbo well well to rule	Who speaks fluent English to rule us
our land o
(That man!)	That man
Oh yes	Oh yes

[Chorus]

Him talk oyinbo pass English man!	He speaks English more than an English man
Him talk oyinbo pass America man	He speaks English more than an American man
Him talk oyinbo pass French man	He speaks French more than a French man
Me I say him talk oyinbo pass German man	I say he speaks German more than a Germany man

He then continued:

First thing for early morning	First thing early in the morning
Na newspaper dem give us read	They give us a newspaper to read
The oyinbo wey dey inside	The English language in the newspaper?
Petty trader no fit to know	A petty trader does not understand
The oyinbo wey dey inside	The English language in the newspaper?
Market woman no fit to read	Ordinary woman in the market cannot read
The oyinbo wey dey inside	The English language in the newspaper?
Na riddle for laborer man	Is a riddle to a lowly-paid laborer
Inside the paper	In that newspaper
Lambastical dey	You’ll find “Lambastical”
Inside the paper	In that newspaper
Ipso facto dey, that one na Latin	You’ll find ipso facto, which is Latin
Inside the paper	In that newspaper
Jargonism dey	You’ll find “Jargonism”
Inside the paper	In that newspaper
Youth delinquency dey	You’ll find youth delinquency
Who be delinquent?	Who is delinquent?
Na dem be delinquent	They are the delinquents
Who be delinquent?	Who is delinquent?
The oyinbo talker delinquent	The person who speaks in English
Who be delinquent?	Who is delinquent?
It no be me o	It isn’t me
They, na de man	It is the man
(Which man?)	Which man?
Wey talk oyinbo well well to rule	Who speaks fluent English to rule us …
Our land o …

In the next song, V.I.P. (1979), Fela twisted what the acronym stood for (Very Important Person) to Vagabonds In Power to show how detestable people in powerful positions and authority appear to him, and how they corruptly enrich themselves and care very little for their constituents. The song describes various forms of power in society, from the power a man who uses his make-shift wheel-barrow to carry goods for people in the market for a fee, to that of the head of state, and asks what the latter does with his power. His response:

Him take am	He (head of state) uses it (power)
Steal money	To steal money
Ha ha, why?	Ha ha, why?
I don’t know! I don’t know	I don’t know! I don’t know (someone replied)
You don’t know anything at all	You don’t know anything at all
You just my brother, ha ha	You are just my (ignorant) brother, ha ha
Try this one:	Try this one:
Him no know hungry people	He doesn’t know hungry people (or, that people are hungry)
Him no know jobless people	He doesn’t know that people are jobless
Him no know homeless people	He doesn’t know that people are homeless
Him no know suffering people	He doesn’t know that people are suffering
Him go dey ride best car	He will ride the best car
Him go dey chop best food	He will eat the best food
Him go dey live best house	He will live in the best house
Him go dey waka for road	If he walks along the road
You go dey commot for road	You will get off the road for him to pass
for am
Him go dey steal money	He will steal (people’s) money
Na “Vagabond in Power”!	He is a Vagabond in Power …

Fela was not only infuriated by the propensity for Vagabonds in Power to embezzle funds but also the fact that they steal with a sense of authority and impunity and go unpunished. In the song, Authority Stealing (1980), Fela ironically laments the fate of the local small-time thief who earns excessive punishment while people in power who steal at a much larger scale go scot-free. He begins with the imagery of people or mob chasing the small-time thief in an unnamed African country, by singing their typical catcalls in such a robbery incident:

Catch am, catch am! Thief, thief, thief!	Catch the thief
Catch am, catch am! Rogue, rogue, rogue!	Catch the rogue
Catch am, catch am! Robber, robber!	Catch the robber

[And when the thief is caught by the mob ……]

Them go beat am well-well	They will beat him thoroughly
Them go lynch am well-well	They will lynch him completely
Police go come well-well	Then, the Police will arrive
Them go carry am go court	They will arraign him in court
Them go put am for jail	They will jail him
Them fit put am six months	They might jail him for six months
Them go put am for one year	They might jail him for one year
Them fit put am two years	They might jail him for two years
Them go put am for five years	They might jail him for five years
Them fit put am seven years	They might jail him for seven years
Them go put am for ten years	They might jail him for ten years
If not them go shoot am well	If not, they will shoot him completely
Them go shoot am for armed robbery …	They will shoot him for armed robbery …

At this point, Fela turns attention to the fate of people in authority who steal stupendous amounts of public money but go unpunished. Ironically, they only use their pens to accomplish what armed robbers with guns could not achieve.

I say turn your face small	I say, turn your face to the other side
To the right wing	To your right
Oga patapata dey for there	The boss is there
Authority people dey for there	People in Authority are there ……
Authority people them go dey steal	Authority people will steal
Public contribute plenty money	So much money contributed by the public
Na authority people dey steal	That’s what Authority people steal
Authority man no dey pickpocket	Authority man is not a pick-pocket
Na petty cash him go dey pick	He’ll pick petty cash (pun, not pocket)
Armed robber him need gun	Armed robber needs a gun
Authority man him need pen	Authority man needs a pen
Authority man in charge of money	Authority man is in charge of money
Him no need gun, him need pen	So, he doesn’t need a gun; he needs a pen
Pen got power gun no get	Pen has power; a gun doesn’t
If gun steal eighty thousand naira	If gun steals eighty thousand Naira (about $230)
Pen go steal two billion naira …	Pen will steal two billion naira (about $5.8 million)

Another irony, Fela points out, is that no one will shout “thief” or “robber” about the massive theft by people in authority, possibly because those who are supposed to prosecute them are their cronies who also got their share of the loot. Thereafter, the authority people and their allies will ingeniously invent some words to camouflage their pillage in order to make the incident look much more innocuous and different from the theft it is. Fela went on:

Hear the words them dey	Hear the words that will be
take deceive the people:	used to deceive people:
Misappropriation
Maladministration
Nepotism
Mitigation
Make I remember another one wey them dey use
(Let me remember other words they use)
Defraudment
Forgerylization
Embezzlement
Vilification
Mismanagement
Public inquiry

Finally, Fela pronounced his indictment:

Authority stealing pass armed robbery	Authority stealing is worse than armed robbery
We Africans we must do something	We Africans must do something
about this nonsense	about this nonsense
We say we must do something	We say we must do something
about this nonsense	about this nonsense
I repeat, we Africans we must do	I repeat, we Africans must do
something about this nonsense	something about this nonsense
Because now authority stealing	Because authority stealing is
pass armed robbery …	worse than armed robbery …

In another song, Confusion Break Bones (1990), the singer is exasperated that corruption and bad governance had become seriously endemic, if not normalized. According to him:

If I sing-ee say, Inf-i-lati-on	If I sing about inflation
If I sing-ee say, mismanagement	If I sing about mismanagement
If I sing-ee say, corrup-u-tion	If I sing about corruption
If I sing-ee say, stealing by government	If I sing about stealing by government
Na old old old news be dat-ee-oh	Those are old news
Di problems still dey ba’gba ra ‘gba …	The problems are still there, so strong …
Dey thing weh dey worry me	What worries me
How dis robbery come get-ee	Is how this robbery got a big head …
big-ee head …
HEAD-O ROBBO-ERY Head	Head robbery (pun)
Where oga pata-pata	Where the big boss will steal everything
go-go steal (everything)
He go take position, steal all free	He’ll use his position to steal freely
Free stealing, na him policy	Free stealing is his policy …

[And, Fela winds it up with a rhetorical question]

Which president we get-ee never steal?

Which (Nigerian) president has not stolen (people’s money)?

Fela did not disguise his disenchantment with Nigeria’s, and Africa’s, leaders. He clearly branded them as people who were incapable of shedding their colonial mentality but were adroit at hiding their bad governance with complex lexical jargons that obscured shared meaning with the rest of the population. More importantly, he presented them as unconscionable looters of public funds. The lyrics of Authority Stealing appear to epitomize his disgust. He identified official corruption and the embezzlement of public money as society’s leukemia and urged Africans to rise up and “do something about this nonsense”.

Authority Stealing was released in 1980. However, the specter of stealing with authority never abated, years after Fela’s death in 1997. The extent of the pilfering of public funds he identified and consistently campaigned against was extensively discussed in 2011 at the fourth joint meeting of the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The meeting mandated the ECA to investigate what it called the “Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) from Africa” the core of which is the embezzlement of public funds. The committee’s report stated that “currently, Africa is estimated to be losing more than $50 billion annually in IFFs”.7

4.2. War, Bloodshed and Peace (Alpha Blondy)

The decimating flames of war and conflict in Africa that Alpha Blondy sang about a few decades ago remain of contemporary relevance and importance. The interminable wars in the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan attest to this. Added to the carnage are the grisly activities of non-state actors such as Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al Shaba in Somalia and the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Mali.

Alpha Blondy’s summation of the cataclysmic consequences of wars and conflicts in Africa is embedded in the song, Bloodshed in Africa (1986). The song commences with a lamentation, then a resolve to oppose bloodshed associated with Babylon:

• Bloodshed in Africa, bloodshed in Africa
• What a shame, what a shame
• It’s a bloody shame, oh yeah
• It’s a mighty shame, oh Lord

• See Babylonians are coming around
• And are messing around with my people’s mind
• I can’t stand it
• No, I won’t bear it

Alpha Blondy is a reggae musician. In this music genre, Babylon has a great deal of sinister symbolism. Early Rastafarians lived in Trenchtown, a squalid part of Kingston, Jamaica’s capital city. Trenchtown was the Rastafarians’ Babylon which, according to Davidson (2008), represented evil and inhumanity. Rastafarianism is thus a struggle for redemption from poverty, disease, destruction, bloodshed, and insecurity. In spite of the destructiveness and evil of the African Babylon, Alpha Blondy is optimistic that the situation will eventually peter away. He prophesized that Africa’s wars and conflicts were bound to end at some point. He sang about it this way:

• You see, Babylon you bound to fall
• You bound to fall, you bound to burn down
• Babylon you bound to fall
• You bound to fall, you bound to melt to the ground

Some of the on-going wars when he released Bloodshed in Africa were in Angola, Chad, and Ethiopia. However, perhaps nowhere in his songs did Alpha Blondy specifically and almost vociferously call for peace and the cessation of wars as in the case of Liberia where he spent a part of his childhood, and a country which was involved in very tumultuous and destructive wars for seven years. In Peace in Liberia (1992), he made a passionate plea for peace, noting that wars can only damage and destroy the country since both victors and the vanquished suffer the pains of wars:

• We want peace in Liberia, peace in Monrovia
• We want peace in Liberia, peace in Monrovia
• ‘Cause Babylon shall not rise again …

• ‘Cause every day they talking about
• The Liberian Civil War
• And everywhere over Jah land
• Muddy rivers of blood oh Lord!

• No matter who wins, Liberia is crying
• No matter who lose, Liberia still crying
• No matter who’s right, they’ve got to stop the fight
• No matter who’s wrong, the devil still stronger

• So we want peace in Liberia, peace in Monrovia
• We want peace in Liberia, peace in Monrovia
• And Babylon shall not rise again …

Sudan (prior to the country splitting into two and South Sudan becoming independent on 9 July 2011) was another hotbed of bloodshed and wars identified in Alpha Blondy’s music. He was quite forthright that the war in the Sudan was precipitated by religious bigotry (Islam vs Christianity) and racism (Northern Sudanese of Arab descent vs south Sudanese of indigenous ethnicities). He forcefully expressed his bewilderment that in spite of the bloodshed that was taking place in the Sudan, the Organization of African Union (OAU), now known as African Union (AU) literally watched by the sidelines as the country got engulfed in a towering inferno of human and material destruction. In the song, Take no Prisoner (1999), the musician vividly painted a gruesome picture of what he thought was going on in the country: Racism, pogrom, and religious intolerance. He called the domination of Sudanese in the southern part of the country by their northern compatriots in power as modern-day slavery and cannibalism, and sang as follows:

• Down in Sudan
• Muslims are selling Christians as slave …
• I don’t understand
• How Africa got into this craze …
• O.A.U. don’t care
• Freedom fighters beware
• It’s a cannibalistic strategy
• A cannibalistic strategy

The reference to “cannibalistic strategy” could symbolize some form of pogrom or genocide which, like cannibalism, is designed to exterminate a people because the conquering authorities, as he sang, appeared to have a policy of “we take no prisoners and we eating the wounded.” This is a reference to genocide against the Southern Sudanese.

The devastating impact of the official policy of apartheid or racial segregation in South Africa also formed the theme of one of his songs, Apartheid is Nazism, released in 1985. The official segregationist policy of the ruling white, Nationalist Party government in South Africa, practically meant the planned killing, maiming, and subjugation of all non-white population in the country, especially black Africans, to terrorism of the mind and body. Noting in the song that the government in South Africa had no “right to shoot the children,” Alpha Blondy called on the United States, as a global super power, to do something to halt the carnage in South Africa. He sang as follows:

• America, America, America
• Break the neck of this apartheid
• America, America, America
• Break the neck of this apartheid

• This apartheid system is nazism, nazism, nazi
• This apartheid system is nazism, nazi, them a nazi
• This apartheid system is nazism, nazi, them a nazi

It is somewhat curious that Alpha Blondy appears to believe in some form of divine intervention as a solution to wars and bloodshed in the African continent. In Peace in Liberia (1992), he offered the following supplications, apparently outsourcing solutions to wars in Liberia to the heavens:

• So we want peace in Liberia, peace in Monrovia
• We want peace in Liberia, peace in Monrovia
• And Babylon shall not rise again
• Babylon shall not rise again
• Babylon shall not stand again
• Babylon shall not stand again

• Calling on Jesus Christ to save I and I
• We calling Jesus Christ to save I and I
• We calling on Allah to save I and I
• We calling Adonai to save I and I

However, it was in his song, Come Back Jesus (1985), that Alpha Blondy made the most elaborate supplication for divine presence to end the wars and conflicts that afflicted Africa; wars which had defied human attempts at peacefully resolving them. He set out in the song to question the rationale for the wars in the continent.

• Why they’re fighting war
• And I wonder why they’re fighting war
• Said, I wonder why now
• Why they’re fighting war

Without proffering an answer, the musician sought refuge in the power of the Christian Jesus to end the conflicts and save the continent from further bloodshed. He pleaded:

• Oh, come back Jesus
• Come back light
• Come back Jesus, my Lord
• Come back love

• Then come back Jesus
• Come back light
• Come back Jesus, Jesus, my Lord
• Come back love

• Peace and love
• Peace and love now
• Jesus, Jesus
• Bring peace and love

• Oh, my Jesus
• My sweet Jesus
• My heart Jesus
• My soul aches for you
• Teardrops coming through

• Love, love, love, love
• We need love
• Sweet Lord, now
• We need you ……

Alpha Blondy’s Come Back Jesus was released in 1985. However, the wars he sang about continue to rage in the continent. According to Africacheck.org, which monitors wars and conflicts in Africa, 8300 people were killed in the continent in January and February of 2015. Five countries in sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Somalia and Niger) accounted for about 90 percent of those deaths.8

4.3. Concern for Citizens (Lucky Dube)

It is the common folk that bear the hardship brought about by ineffective and corrupt governments. This is the undertone in Lucky Dube’s songs in this study. After decades of independence by several African countries, the prospects for ameliorating the plight of ordinary citizens remain deem. Rather, the rich and powerful continue to consolidate their wealth and affluence. For instance, a Nigerian senator, Shehu Sani from Kaduna state, in March 2018 disclosed that he and each of his colleagues were paid about $40,000 per month in salaries and allowances in a country where a majority of the population survived on about $2 per day.9

According a World Bank report on sub-Saharan Africa, a 3.1 percent economic growth for the continent was expected in 2018, with a projected average increase to 3.6 percent in the 2019–2020 period.10 Nonetheless, the continent’s economic situation remains grim. The same report concluded the following:

Public debt levels are rising, which might jeopardize debt sustainability in some countries; the availability of good jobs has not kept pace with the number of entrants in the labor force; and poverty is widespread. While the region’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) growth will turn positive in 2018, it will remain insufficient to reduce poverty significantly. Total poverty headcount at the international poverty line ($1.90 per day) is projected to decline only marginally.

The widespread poverty among the marginalized people he saw around him appeared to have puzzled Lucky Dube and left him wondering why the leadership in his society did little to positively address the situation. In Crime and Corruption (1999), he lamented the politicians’ apparent indifference to the parlous conditions of life among their fellow citizens and expressed his disgust in rhetorical questions:

• Is it the bodyguards around you
• Is it the high walls where you live
• Or is it the men with the guns around you
• Twenty four hours a day
• That make you ignore the crying of the people
• Farmers get killed everyday
• And you say it is not that bad
• Policemen get killed everyday
• And you say it is not that bad
• Maybe if you see it through the eyes
• Of the victims

• You will join us and fight this
• Chorus:
• Crime and corruption

• Do you ever worry
• About your house being broken into
• Do you ever worry
• About your car being taken away from you
• In broad daylight
• Down highway 54
• Do you ever worry
• About your wife becoming
• The woman in black
• Do you ever worry
• About leaving home and
• Coming back in a coffin
• With a bullet through your head
• So join us and fight this

• Chorus:
• Crime and corruption

In yet another song, Political Games (2006), Lucky Dube condemned how politicians whip up patriotic fervors among the people for their selfish ends. He also criticized their nonchalance about the dire human condition of their hapless compatriots, as well as their penchant to peddle falsehood and make unfulfilled promises to hoodwink the masses. His tirade against the leaders was as direct as it was vitriolic:

• How do you feel when you lie?
• Straight faced while people cry
• How do you feel when you promise something
• That you know you’ll never do
• Giving false hope to the people
• Giving false hope to the underprivileged
• Do you really sleep at night?
• When you know you’re living a lie
• To you it is just a job
• To the people it hurts to the bone

• [Chorus:]
• Ooh political games that they play [x4]

• What do you say to the orphans?
• Of the women and men you sent to war
• What do you say to the widows?
• Of the men you sent to war
• Telling them it is good for the country
• When you know it’s good for your ego
• What a shame.
• Do you really sleep at night?
• When you know you’re living a lie
• You talking tough, you talking sincerely
• Giving false hope to the infected
• Giving false hope to the affected.
• To you it is just a job
• To the people it hurts to the bone …

In The Hand that Giveth (1989), Lucky Dube explored the biblical injunction about caring for the poor to criticize the rich and powerful for their unbridled hypocrisy in taking money from poor people instead of giving it to them. He may have resorted to using the biblical imperative in the hope that the leaders, who publicly professed embracing Christianity, would practice what the bible said about the virtues of charity. Yet again, he adopted his rhetorical questioning style to amplify his message.

• What type of rich man are you
• Who doesn’t care about the poor people?
• What type of rich man are you
• Who doesn’t care about the helpless people? …

• There you read it in the Bible
• But don’t understand what it says

• It says blessed is the hand that giveth
• Than the one that taketh …

• Does it make you feel happy
• When you see another man starving?
• Does it make you feel happy
• When you see another man with no food?
• Does it make you feel great, maybe?
• To see another man, without a thing

• You read about it in the Bible
• But didn’t understand it

• Blessed is the hand that giveth
• Than the one that taketh …

In a way, Lucky Dube called for a revolution by the masses against their oppressors in Well Fed Slave/Hungry Free Man (1997). In the song, he suggested that the suffering masses had a choice: Continue to live under the yoke of the squalor that defined their existence or do something to redress their misfortune. In other words, remain a slave or be a free person.

He introduced the song by urging the poor and oppressed to do some self-examination:

• Look in the eyes of the
• Homeless man
• Tell me what you see
• In the eyes of a jobless man
• Tell me what you see
• What about the eyes
• Of a prisoner
• What do you see
• Now you’ve seen it all
• It is time to make up your mind
• Don’t try to hide it
• ‘Cause I can see it all
• In your face yeah
• It the same questions
• That I ask myself every time
• To be or not to be

From this self-examination he posed a series of poignant questions to the poor and downtrodden:

• Do you wanna be
• A well fed slave or a hungry free man

• What is the point in being free
• When you can’t get no job
• What is the point in being free
• When you can’t get food
• What is the point in going out to work
• When others can get for free
• What is the point in being free
• When you don’t have no home
• Now you’ve heard it all
• It is time to make up
• Your own mind
• To be or not to be
• Oh ho ho ho …

• Do you wanna be
• A well fed slave or a hungry free man

By asking his impoverished compatriots to make a choice between pretending to be well fed slaves under unprogressive leadership and breaking free from their bondage and go hungry as free people, Lucky Dube was invariably calling for some form of mass revolution against the ruling elite and status quo.

It was a twist of fate and irony that the poverty and insecurity Lucky Dube highlighted in his songs provided the scenario that cut short his life when he died in a carjacking incident in 2007.

5. Conclusions

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Alpha Blondy, and Lucky Dube used their music to articulate, frame, highlight, and disseminate political messages on the three main themes in this study: The flagrant abuse of power and corruption; interminable wars and conflicts that threaten peace in the continent; and the poor and insecure lives of marginalized citizens whose governments are run by leaders who appear more concerned with personal aggrandizement than with improving the quality of life of their citizens through good governance.

The musicians were forthright in framing their political messaging. They adopted a thematic approach in getting their messages across, that is, all songs played at various points in their careers drove the critical message of interest to each of them. Fela, for instance, was focused on framing and presenting Nigerian and African leaders as utterly corrupt and abusers of political power and authority. He characterized them as unprincipled leaders who were out of touch with the citizenry in Colonial Mentality, Vagabonds in Power and Mr. Grammarticalogylisationalism Is the Boss. In Authority Stealing, the same leaders were framed as brazen and unconscionable looters of their countries’ wealth and resources.

In Bloodshed in Africa, Take no Prisoner, Apartheid is Nazism, Peace in Liberia and Come Back Jesus, Alpha Blondy examined the cataclysmic consequences of wars and conflicts in Africa and explored the prospects for peace, even if it meant supplications to the Christian Jesus to intervene and halt the destruction that was ravaging the continent. All songs were framed with the same purpose: End wars and welcome peace in the continent.

Lucky Dube framed his songs around his concern for marginalized citizens, but adopted an approach that rhetorically asked politicians and rulers if they were comfortable with seeing and witnessing the results of their ineptitude, indifference, and lack of care for the people they were elected to serve. Crime and Corruption, Political Games, The Hands that Giveth, Well fed, and Slave/Hungry Free Men all echo the same theme.

As a result of their political messaging, all three musicians examined in this study were branded as renegades and anti-establishment persona in their various countries. This might be one level of evidence that their political messaging had some impact in society, and that music is an effective tool in the African political arena. The security agencies in Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and South Africa closely monitored the activities of Fela, Alpha, and Lucky, respectively. Perhaps, the Nigerian security agencies’ harassment and attempted intimidation of Fela were the most extreme examples of perceived threat the authorities in the three countries felt about the musicians and their political messaging. On 18 February 1977, an estimated number of 1000 armed soldiers swooped on Fela’s compound called Kalakuta Republic in the capital city Lagos, and burned it down. The military government’s inquiry that was set up to investigate the incident attributed the mayhem to the handwork of some “Unknown Soldiers,” words which Fela later used as the title of one of his most popular anti-establishment songs.

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Alpha Blondy, and Lucky Dube are not the only African musicians with explicit political messaging in their songs. The task for future studies in this genre is to explore and examine the musical repertoire of other African musicians, especially the more contemporary artists, to determine how they use their platform to disseminate political messages to their followers and larger audiences.