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The Case of Thomas Mapfumo's Masoja Nemapurisa

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The Case of Thomas Mapfumo's Masoja Nemapurisa © Kamla-Raj 2015 J Communication, 6(2): 260-269 (2015) Rebuking Impunity through Music: The Case of Thomas Mapfumo’s Masoja Nemapurisa Everisto Benyera Department of Political Sciences, University of South Africa, Pretoria, 0003, Republic of South Africa E-mail: [email protected], [email protected] KEYWORDS Popular Music. Impunity. Zimbabwe. Human Rights. Transitional Justice ABSTRACT Popular music has been used since the colonial times as an instrument of criticizing the various levels of authority in Zimbabwe. It was used as an artistic vehicle for denouncing colonialism. After independence, the same medium was used to agitate for social justice. More than thirty years after independence the same genre is being used to denounce impunity and political violence. Through the years what has changed is the language, which migrated from euphemism to confrontational lyrics, not the message, which has consistently attacked the authorities. The paper begins by theorizing popular music as an arts genre. This is followed by an analysis of songs that were critical of the colonial governments and those that criticized the post-independence government. The music of Thomas Mapfumo was singled out as protest music, which consistently spoke to the authorities about their perceived shortcomings. This view is presented using Mapfumo’s song titled Masoja Nemapurisa. INTRODUCTION poorly resourced communities (Lemieux and Prat- to 2008). However, this changed when listeners The role of popular music in Zimbabwe, be- and critics were surprised to hear the hard-hit- sides entertaining and educating the people, has ting lyrics from Thomas Mapfumo around 2002. been to offer an alternative communication chan- While most were surprised by Mapfumo’s seem- nel to air narratives, which were being crowded ingly undiplomatic lyrics, it is this paper’s ob- out of the mainstream media. In its endeavors to jective to demonstrate that such messages are educate, entertain and offer an alternative voice, not new in Zimbabwe’s popular music as popu- popular music has been accused of over-roman- lar music has been used in Zimbabwe to criticize ticizing the false to the detrimental effect of giv- various authorities over the years. These ranged ing false hope to communities in crisis and de- from God, the colonial government, the South spair. Yet at times, popular music has been ac- African apartheid regime1, the Zimbabwe gov- cused of exaggerating the evilness of leaders. ernment and opposition political parties. Criti- Most musicians compose to sell their messages cizing the conduct of those in authority is there- therefore tend to ‘follow the crowd’, which is fore not new to Zimbabwe’s popular musicians, where the sales reside. The rationale for this what is new though is the nature in which the paper is therefore to unpack the message in one message is being communicated. This paper ar- of Thomas Mapfumo’s song titles Masoja Nem- gues that there is a traceable movement away apuruisa (the army and the police) and present from euphemistic language to the language of it as one song, which went against the grain and provoked serious reactions from both the au- direct confrontation especially in the music of thorities and the listeners. Using what can be Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and the late termed a soft tool such as popular music to con- Simon Chimbetu. Equally interesting and worth front a prime evil such as executive lawlessness noting is the fact that these musicians also en- is an epic endeavor, which warrants scholarly gage each other in their songs, in the process, interrogation, an exercise, which will be attempt- exchanging very extreme views on topical is- ed in these pages. sues. Their songs “speak truth to the power”, As an arts genre, popular music is generally their audiences and fellow musicians. harmless (Holtzman and Sharpe 2014: xx), as it In Zimbabwe, popular music has been effi- usually dwells on social issues (Whitely 2013), cacious in expressing the views of the ordinary folk stories (Jenkins 2015) and on general com- citizens regarding the issues of political vio- mentary about daily hardships of live such as lence, land reform, vote rigging and the politics the havoc being wrecked by HIV and AIDS in of long incumbency. These issues are neither REBUKING IMPUNITY THROUGH MUSIC 261 new nor resurgent. What is new here is the ever to the Black government, demonstrating his un- changing language of articulation, which was happiness with the conduct of leadership, espe- formerly illusive and euphemistic and is now di- cially that of the post-independence govern- rect, hard-hitting and unmasked. By definition, ment. This did not go down well with the au- popular music is part of popular culture, which thorities, especially with the black post-indepen- in itself is a complex term (William 1998; Cusic dence leadership. Consequently, Mapfumo was 2001). As a concept it goes beyond the routine incarcerated during the war of liberation for com- delivery of information to the consumers (Gause posing songs, which were against the White 2005). It is a contested constructive made up of minority regime. After independence his poor a mixture of images, languages and voices (Gause relations with the authorities continued espe- 2001). Popular culture, to which popular music cially after 2000, around which period the land belongs, is therefore a set of meanings one con- reform program was in progress. Earlier on, Map- structs from the images, languages, and formats fumo had joined the independence praise sing- of the day-to-day lives (Doris 2006:1). Others ers in the celebration for independence. He com- view popular culture as a tool useful in the ma- posed songs praising the then Prime Minister nipulation of the masses. For Adorno and Robert Mugabe and his party for liberating the Horkheimer (1999), it is a tool of the culture in- country. These include Pemberai (Celebrate), dustries used to sway people toward consump- and Chitima Cherusununguko (Independence tion and conformity. Broadly, it can be argued Train). However, developments around the lack that popular culture is efficacious in influencing of social justice and corruption made him aban- social relations (Collins 2004: 122) and interpret- don ship and he continued criticizing the gov- ing the otherwise complexities presented by ernment, this time the new Black government group behavior (Cortes 1995). It is popular cul- led by then Prime Minister Mugabe. When Map- ture’s ability to sway large numbers of people fumo released his album, Chimurenga Rebel towards “conformity” and influence social rela- (2002), the then Information and Publicity Min- tions that make popular culture a viable vehicle ister Professor Jonathan Moyo reportedly brand- for communicating critical messages. ed Mapfumo a ‘terrorist,’ and allegedly instruct- With the Zimbabwean state maintaining a firm ed the national broadcaster, the Zimbabwe grip on the mainstream media, popular culture Broadcasting Corporation not to air a number of such as graffiti and protest music were used for Mapfumo’s songs (Eyre 2005). decades to communicate alternative and other- In the song, Dai Tenzi Vaiziva, Mapfumo wise contested views to the public sphere. In appears to be questioning God’s presence while the colonial times, this type of music was masked Africa and Zimbabwe suffer abject poverty and in euphemistic lyrics, known in the local Shona starvation. He sang: language as chibhende. This is a form of ex- Dai Tenzi vaiziva zvavo pression in which one does not mean what they Vaitora hurombo vorasa say. One reason advanced for the use of euphe- Vagopawo hupfumi kuvanhu mism by musician during the colonial period was Only if God knew the levels of poverty among the need to escape the heavy censorship which the Blacks all music and work forms had to undergo before He would admonish (vanquish) poverty from publication. Mapfumo stands out as one musi- our midst cian who effectively deployed euphemism is his And give prosperity to the masses songs thereby achieving the two pronged goals Given the context of the song, Tenzi can be of communicating a critical message to the mass- taken to imply the colonizer. This interpretation es while managing to escape the punishment is consistent with the euphemistic nature of the which accompanied such “crimes”. lyrics of that time given the levels of censorship music had to undergo. 1. Euphemism in Mapfumo’s Music Sometimes Mapfumo’s lyrics were so hidden that even some of the population could not com- Mapfumo has been the most critical of the prehend his message. In the song Mhandu Mu- authorities in their various forms (Eyre 2005). He sango, he sang: has criticized all forms of authority, seemingly Kutauta handitye Mambo consistently, from God and the Spirits of the land Honai makuva musango Mamb 262 EVERISTO BENYERA Regai vanouraya vauraye zvavo Mambo Vapambi veRhodesia ndivo vachiine mari Tinofira chokwadi. Nevamwe vatema vanoba mari Uraya mhandu musango Now, what do we lack in the independence I am not afraid of saying the truth era? Look at the numbers of the soldiers dying in It is the resources, which we do not control the war The Rhodesians and a few Black kleptoma- I would rather die than keep quite nias are robbing the masses. We are prepared to die for the truth Andrew Brown also participated in the cas- That is why we are encouraging our soldiers to tigation of the two dominant political parties in kill the enemy (Hidden and not literal translation). the country2 by asking them why they have be- Here Mapfumo was well aware of the causal- come so belligerent. In the song Chigaro ities among the liberation fighters and the nu- ChaMambo, Brown admonishes the country’s merous challenges they were facing. He saw it political leadership to shun politically motivat- fit to confront the enemy by predicting that they ed violence.
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