By Nyasha Kumire

"DO YOU remember Idi Amin in Uganda, do you remember Mobutu Sese Seko in the Congo…Malawi under Banda was a nation of torture, a nation of tyranny, a nation of despotism, a nation of death, this is a warning to the African Bandas..." - lyrics from a song on African dictators by Zimbabwean trade unionist-cum-musician, Raymond Majongwe.
As the chorus of President Robert Mugabes ruin of the once prosperous Zimbabwe rings around the globe, musicians in and out of the country have added their voices to the protest against him. A number of musicians have composed lyrics in protest against Mugabe. None mention his name directly, however. Even then, some of the songs have been censored or banned from airwaves controlled by the government.
Majongwe, who has landed in trouble with government for his trade union activities, took his campaign of protest against the country’s social-economic decline a step further when he released hard-hitting albums such as Kamuzu Banda and Which Way Africa. Both have not received any airplay on state-controlled national radio or television. Although Majongwe does not mention Mugabe or his ruling party by name, the inferences in his lyrics are all too clear.
Clive Malunga, a veteran of Zimbabwe’s war of liberation took a subtle stab at the Mugabe regime. In Zambuko (The bridge) a track from his 2001 album, Sauramba, Malunga urges Zimbabweans to unite in order to cross the bridge together. He urges his compatriots to abandon this ‘one man’ who has subjected them to much suffering.
In another song, Zizi naNhengure, - a story about two birds - Malunga’s idiomatic lyrics tell the story of Nhengure, the clever little bird that debunked the widely-held myth that an owl has horns. The message is that Mugabe is not infallible, as proved by the serious challenge posed against Zanu-PF by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in general elections held in 2000.
Mtukudzi’s politically charged 2000 album Bvuma/Tolerance was a voice of protest. While the superstar denies that Mugabe, then 80, was the target of his song Wasakara (You have become a spent force), Zimbabweans generally believe when Mtukudzi sang "Admit that you are wrinkled and worn out", he had noone but the President in mind.
A sound engineer was promptly arrested as Mkukudzi belted out the lyrics of Bvuma to an ecstatic audience at the Harare International Conference Centre. The engineer had focused a powerful beam of light on a portrait of Mugabe hanging on a wall.
After Mugabe publicly boasted that he earned academic degrees in violence, Mtukudzi composed Mangoromera (fighting charms). He deplores resort to violence in dealing with Zimbabwe’s economic, political and social problems.
In another critical song Wenge Mambo (behaving like a king) which was released in 2001, Mtukudzi refers to politicians who view themselves as kings.
"All my songs work yesterday, today and tomorrow," Mtukudzi said in an interview with the Washington Post Foreign Service. "My definition of a good song is a song that the next person is able to use."
Hosea Chipanga, a controversial musician has had a brush with the Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) over his songs which are loaded with social and political messages. Interestingly, Chipanga who is said to share the same area of rural origin with Mugabe, Zvimba in Mashonaland West, has over the years performed regularly at state galas.
At one such gala held in the Midlands town of KweKwe the CIO approached the musician and warned him of the dire consequences of singing songs critical of the President and the government.
Chipanga was later quoted in the press as saying: "The CIO just said they were worried about my lyrics. But I simply explained that my music is mainly social commentary with no political connotations and that it is the listeners who might attach their own wrong or correct meanings to the songs. We have resolved the whole issue."

The song whose lyrics unsettled the CIO most was Ndarota Mambo Afira Pachigaro (I had a dream in which the King died on the throne). In the song Chipanga sings of an ageing leader who vows to stay in power despite calls by his people to step down.
In one of the songs on the album Honho, another popular musician, Leonard Zhakata, asks what kind of a race it is in which a competitor whose legs are bound is forced to run against another whose legs are free. "Why are you afraid to compete with me when I am free? What kind of a boxing match is this in which I fight with my hands bound?"
Mugabe has literally tied the hands and legs of those aspiring to presidential office. He denies the opposition free access to the media during election campaigns.they cannot freely hold campaign rallies. His ruling Zanu-PF party enjoys free and exclusive access to state funds and equipment during campaigns.
Poet Chirikure Chirikure receives standing ovations whenever he performs his song Napukeni. The song is banned on state radio. The lyrics of the question the wisdom of not channging a baby’s soiled nappy. The hardly concealed message that it’s time for change at State House was too hot for State radio and napukeni was promptly banned from airplay.
A radio presenter was fired after 18 years after she played two blacklisted songs. One of the songs, Jongwe, (the cockerel) the musician makes the innocent suggestion that the cockerel should be slaughtered for dinner, as has happened since time immemorial. The cockerel is, however, the symbol of Zanu-PF and party enthusiasts refer to their party leader adoringly as Jongwe, the cockerel. Management at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation were less than enthused by the indiscretion of the broadcaster.
Protest musician Viomak, who is based in Britain has released two albums wholly dedicated to the President. They are appropriately named Happy 82nd Birthday President Robert Mugabe Diaspora Classics Volume 1 and Happy 83rd Birthday President Mugabe (Bones of a 30-year-old. The albums include such cheeky tracks as Arise and Fight, Gono bvisa mazero (Reserve Bank Governor Gideon Gono, please remove the zeros from our currency), Mugabe Usambozvinyengedza(Don’t fool yourself, Mugabe) and Inzwa Mugabe (Now listen, Mugabe).
South African maestro Hugh Masekela lent his weight to the Zimbabwean protest campaign. In his song, Change, he urges long-standing African leaders, Mugabe, in particular, to "Say goodbye".
But Thomas Mapfumo, who now lives in exile in the US, is by far the most vocal protester. Unlike other musicians who have chosen to be subtle out of discretion or fear, the trademark of Mapfumo’s music is calling a spade a spade. His songs Corruption from way back in the late 1980s to recent ones Disaster and Mamvemve (Zimbabwe now in tatters), are direct attacks on the Mugabe regime. Unlike Mugabe, Mapfumo has bowed to age and graciously faded out of the scene.
Ironically, 27 years after Jamaican reggae legend Bob Marley sent Zimbabweans into flights of ecstacy while celebrating their country’s independence in 1980, Damien, one of his many reggae singing children, has traced his father’s steps to Harare. The lyrics of his recent release, Road to Zion are highly critical of President Mugabe. He accuses Mugabe of "holding guns to innocent people".
In his song, Zimbabwe, Bob Marley sang:
"Soon we will find out,
Who is the real revolutionaries
Cause I don’t want my people
To be contrary...and I don’t want my people
To be tricked by mercenaries....
Everyman got a right to decide his own destiny..
On Road to Zion Damien Marley collaborated with United States rapper NAS who sings: "I am having daymares in daytime wide-awake, trying to relate.
This can’t be happening, like I am in a dream, while I am walking.
Cause what I am seeing is haunting, human beings like ghosts and zombies.
President Mugabe holding guns to innocent bodies"
.", , ,