Zairo-Congolese Musicians and the Sound of Assimilation in East Africa

This chapter investigates the phenomenon of emigrant Zairo-Congolese musicians in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania and their attempts to integrate into these societies through a variety of strategies that overtly and covertly employ political elements. Remmy Ongala, Samba Mapangala, and the members of Orchestra Maquis all spent time in one of these countries and shaped their sound and messages in these settings, politics being a significant part of their work. While political communication studies focus on structures, institutions, and the media, it is the case that in numerous African contexts music is an integral part of political understanding and participation. Drawing upon the works of scholars such as Michael Urban, Mark Mattern, and Uche Onyebadi, this chapter combines varied fields such as ethnomusicology, political communication, and cultural studies to provide a close understanding of these musical emigrants as well as an exploration of the social trajectories in their work over the course of the last half century.

Campaign Songs and Political Advertising in Ghana

As persuasive tools for political campaigns, songs and music are integral features of electioneering in Africa. Since Ghana's return to multiparty democracy in 1992, election cycles in the country have been heralded and accentuated by campaign songs which extol the virtues of their sponsors and/or denigrate the achievements and their suitability for political office. This chapter examines the use of repetitions, testimonials, and biblical imagery in campaign songs of two major political parties in Ghana—the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC)—during the 2012 and 2016 elections. Eight campaign songs were analyzed. The findings show that the songs sought to communicate messages/themes of submissiveness/humility, divine choice/prophecy, achievers/achievement, and opponents as failures/deceivers about the political parties and their candidates.

Collective Identity in National Anthems

This chapter explores how national anthems of African and non-African Arab nations reflect a collective national identity. The national anthems of 22 Arab countries were analyzed using the textual thematic analysis to identify the common attributes of national identity in these anthems and the variance in referring to political entities, national symbols, and natural artifacts according to the political system (republic vs. monarchy) in the country. The analysis shows five thematic components of the national identity presented by those anthems, with an emphasis on the themes of religion and local political leaders in the anthems of monarchies. On the other hand, republics base their identity on religion, history, and nation-related natural and national artifacts. The anthems of the republics show a higher level of complexity (thematic richness) and more tendency to use emotionally charged, forceful language, in contrast to the anthems of the monarchies.

Protest Music and Political Consciousness Among Nigerian Youths

Over the decades, music and songs have been used to highlight the ills in various societies. Nonetheless, disparities sometimes exist between musicians' intensions and how their music is received. Thus, it is possible for people to listen to the melodies of songs without comprehending the socio-political messages embedded in the lyrics. This observation underscores the importance of this chapter, which examined the Nigerian youths' response to the messages in the lyrics of songs released by two Nigerian musicians, Eedris Abdulkareem (Jaga Jaga) and Techno (Rara). This study surveyed youths in the South-South region of Nigeria. Focus group discussions of the same population were also held. The findings primarily show that the youths were highly aware of the socio-political messages in the songs.

The Discursive Role of Music in African Elections

In Africa, music remains the arena where the commingling of political and artistic expressions has thrived, even in countries with high levels of control and censorship. This blend of music and politics is perhaps most evident in the modern era where music is increasingly being used for political messaging during election campaigns. This chapter delves into the discursive role of music in election campaigns from an African perspective, using Zambia as a case study, and more specifically through the lens of the Patriotic Front, the country's largest political party, which effectively used musical lyrics to win the presidency and consolidate its power.

“Onaapo” vs. “One Factory”

In this chapter, the authors investigated how ideological differences between the two main political traditions in Ghana manifested in their campaign lyrics. The authors diachronically interrogated the 2012 and 2016 campaign songs of the National Democratic Congress and the New Patriotic Party of Ghana using critical discourse analysis. The findings suggest that there are no clear manifestations of ideological differences between the two political traditions in their campaign songs. The songs had pragmatic themes that essentially dwelt on the lived socio-economic conditions of the voters. As such, these daily economic needs of the voters became the defining concerns in political campaign songs rather than ideological affinity.

Majaivana and Protest Music in Zimbabwe

This chapter interrogates the appropriation of music by a marginalized minority tribe to challenge political authority in Zimbabwe. It examines how music is used to arouse the people's nationalistic feelings; exploit their grievances through memory, collective identity, and emotions; and spur them to action against their local colonialists. Using cultural memory and subaltern public sphere theories, it examines how Majaivana's music is utilized by the Ndebeles in post-colonial Zimbabwe to challenge authority and assert their minority, collective identity. Although this chapter does a critical discourse analysis of the IsiNdebele language protest music as a socio-political commentary and “weapon of the weak” for the Ndebeles in Zimbabwe, lessons drawn therefrom can be extrapolated to other countries in Africa where minority groups face the authoritarian force of the majority tribe in power.

Couching Political Criticism in Humor

This chapter analyzes the music of two military bands: Zangalewa of Cameroon and Zao of Congo-Brazzaville. Zangalewa is the marching band of the presidential guard in Cameroon. Part of its “Suffering Soldier's Medley,” a self-deprecating military entertainment piece, was actually a subtle politico-cultural parody, couched in jester's garb, that lampoons the brutal and oppressive Cameroon army. For its part, Zao is a “pseudo military” band, a civilian band that adopted a military persona and uses subtle satire couched in humor to critique the military and militarism. The author analyzes the politico-cultural contexts and lyrics of both bands within the framework of metaphorical couching, the embedment of messages in humor. Both bands couched criticism of the authorities in humor and African metaphors, sayings, and proverbs expressed in a mixture of English, French, pidgin, and African dialects to bypass censorious gatekeepers.

Ṣaworoidẹ

Ṣaworoidẹ is a Nigerian film about the Yorùbá people in Nigeria. It accentuates the socio-cultural and political activities and nuances in Jogbo, representational of the “old Nigeria.” Ṣaworoidẹ itself is a “talking drum” laced with brass bells along its beatable surface. The “talking drum” is an indigenous musical instrument in West Africa, whose functionalities are those of communication and entertainment. But enshrined in this unique instrument are political and socio-cultural characteristics as represented in Ṣaworoidẹ. This chapter identifies those characteristics and their prominence in present-day Nigeria, particularly among the Yorùbá people. The authors unravel the notable and multifaceted use of the “talking drum” for political, religious, traditional, and mass mobilization activities. They suggest that cultural heritage policies of Nigeria, including curricula that facilitate indigenous knowledge, should provide support for this rich drumming tradition, especially in educational institutions.

Music, Political Messaging, and Nigeria's 2015 Presidential Election

Music and songs command public attention and generally appeal to a large number of people. During the 2015 Nigerian presidential election, some politicians and their parties virtually took over the musical space to woo voters. The message creators for incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and his challenger, Muhammadu Buhari, crafted music-laden television commercials to convey their manifestos. This chapter used a content analytical method to investigate how various pieces of musical compositions were used as communication tools in the television adverts used in the elections. Specifically, it examined the musical genre, words, context, message, and discourse. Overall, most of the political advertisements used in the election were built around music and songs in praise of the candidates or used to tarnish their image.