African music has played an powerful role in
politics and community development in Africa. Fifty years before the
Zulu poet composed their songs in the struggle shake off apartheid in
South Africa the Mau Mau freedom fighters were raising their tunes for
independence in Kenya.
Today, every African political party has its anthem and dozens of short
lived songs are composed by local supporters in a myriad of
mother-tongues. Of course every country has it own national anthem,
some changing with every new regime.
Musician around the world often compose tunes that are critical about
the current situations in their societies. Contemporary African
musicians sing out against their governments in the DRC, Senegal, and
Zimbabwe and find themselves in prison. Others are put away for
attempting to introduce or popularize Western morals and worldview.
African development organizations like UNESCO and OXFAM often enlist
the assistance of popular African musicians to inspire their health or
poverty alleviation projects. The music industry sometimes takes it
upon itself to contribute in powerful ways to the development of
African countries. Recent successful examples are the Roll Back Malaria
concert in Dakar and the brand new three part drama Shuga distributed
by MTV. Click below of a short except of the concert.
