FEATURE : Why Bongo Flava keeps eroding basic moral values

Dar es Salaam. Some people would recall that a few days after we ushered in the new year 2016, the notorious population of Kenyans on Twitter started a trend calling for the removal of Tanzanians from the popular photo sharing app, Instagram.

At the core of #KickTanzaniaOutOfIG was one strong message – our good neighbours were concerned at the rate at which our Instagram users populated their feeds with pornographic content.

Many have missed it, but this was a massive revelation on the systemic rot in morals in a society that has for decades been esteemed as being kind, shy, modest and humble.

What went wrong?

Explicit content has probably existed in the Tanzanian society for a few decades and understandably so, as humans are sensual beings who must find ways to express or entertain their sensual imaginations.

However, in a society such as ours that was (and still is) obsessed with preserving the ideals of sexual morality, sensual expressions had no place in public circles. This was the case in the late 90s as I was approaching my early adolescence. Many people desires to see, hear and read explicit content were limited by supply – and supply limited through state mechanisms of control.

However, there is nothing like absolute control. In a media environment that felt airtight, one of the ways rebellious sexual venting occurred was through cartoon magazines. These magazines were always decorated with inviting artworks of a scantily dressed, well-endowed women and they contained sensual stories.

Nonetheless, at the time, a youngster wouldn’t muster the courage to go near a stall at a crowded bus stop to buy such a magazine, as they would risk being reprimanded by an older person, not to mention numerous strange gazes of disapproval that they would receive from onlookers.

But similarly, an older person would also shy away from purchasing or reading any of such magazines in public at the fear of being perceived as sexually perverted and setting a bad example for the young ones. This in my view explains why the magazines never made it to the mainstream.

Things changed quite swiftly with the introduction of tabloids. Much as popular tabloid owners deserve credit for their innovation, they should also be resented for their predatory entrepreneurial approach that brought explicit content into the mainstream, and they should also bear the blame of the current societal rot.

It can be argued that the disguise of tabloids as newspapers is what enabled them to bypass the implicit, culture-dictated litmus test of what is readable and what is not and consequently what breaks into the mainstream.

Tabloids simply sensationalise things which were better off staying in their newsmakers’ private lives. This sensationalism, coupled with sensual stories in text and image formats sum up the makings of a good Tanzanian tabloid.

Much to my displeasure, few of them have been among the most read ‘papers’ in the country for such a long time. What is concerning here is that their lack of redeemable social value has gone undetected for far too long – so long that one could place them at the epicentre of the fast progressing ecosystem of moral rottenness that we are currently experiencing.

Bongo Flava

This rot has evolved into a more powerful social cultural force that is the local music industry, popularly known as Bongo Flava. Empowered with powerful visuals, the local music industry has effectively brought soft-porn into the mainstream.

I will attempt to explain this by examining the lyrics of possibly three of the most popular songs in the country today.

First, sexual innuendo has been taken too far in song lyrics. Dully Sykes and Harmonize’s hit, Inde, contains references to the size of the male reproductive organ and oral sex. Diamond Platnumz and Rayvanny’s Salome promotes the use of marijuana and at its core is a less-than-subtle objectification the female body.

The hit song makes numerous references to male bedroom fantasies and sex positions which can easily be said to either represent or shape a prejudiced dominant view of sex, or both.

Without going into too much details, collectively these two songs have already gained over seven million views on YouTube alone not more than two months after they were published. If radio plays, TV plays and downloads are factored in, it is disheartening to even think about the disastrous impact these songs have had in our society.

Yet ironically, Diamond Platnumz and his WCB label, who are the primary culprits here, enjoy a big reputation in society – big enough to warrant friendly visits by a Minister and to the former President’s retirement house, both events happening within a month.

Second, our views on promiscuity are getting a makeover from ugly to glorious. Perhaps the most depressing thing to ever come out of the local entertainment scene this year is a song where a group of boys brag about taking turns to sleep with their in-laws. This song not only became popular, but also brought to surface a genre of music called “Singeli”.

As I write, the mischief-maker in chief, Manfongo, is one of the stars touring the country in the famous Fiesta Tour that (to a large extent) holds the key to what it means to be a musical celebrity in the country.

This crooked genre has effectively made its way into the mainstream on the Regulator’s watch because of the lack of attention to detail. While the Regulator was too focused on reactively monitoring traditional media, proactive actors were more engaged in adapting local music to realities on the ground.

Local DJs occupied this space, mediating indirect forms of media to its live forms. Being void of any form of regulation allowed the local DJs to go as wild as they could, much to the pleasure of their untamed, body-shaking audiences.

Singeli is the least elitist genre of music currently, but it is loved, not because of fancy musical art, but simply because it resonates with the reality of the low-class urban entertainment culture. This reality is ugly – much uglier that the music that is bringing it to surface.

Third, a class of female socialites are gaining significance at a rather alarming rate. It should be typical of a sane and contemplative society for people to gain significance out of a moral or material value that they represent.

The past few years have seen a crop of female celebrities who rose to fame because of their sex symbolism. These are the stars of Instagram, enjoying followership in the hundreds of thousands and a few in the millions – an unprecedented stardom that pays no attention to the junk that the dominates their pages. Recently, TCRA banned a local talk show “Take One” for what is reported as promoting promiscuity after they aired an interview with “Gigy Money”, one of the top female socialites in the country.

A more reflective assessment would question the role of this type of regulation on the premise that the rottenness that exists in “real life” greatly transcends what can be seen through the media. Before the regulators ban another video for “violating Tanzanian ethics”, they should think long and hard about what those ethics are in this day and time and realise that the problem is much bigger.

I hold the view that to address this concern, any relevant actors first need to conduct an exhaustive investigation into the whole entertainment industry with a view to answering one key question: Are the current sex references a mere reflection of changing social values or are they pushing the boundaries of what has been historically regarded as socially acceptable and unacceptable?

This question already assumes a systemic rot in the entertainment ecosystem, but it is important in terms of determining a starting point for any course of action that can be taken.

Action against one song every so often, regardless of the level of adversity, will not address the problem. On the contrary it will make it worse, because it is a form of flirtation with law – and law is meant to be broken so long as there is sufficient incentive to do so, and there is.

It is understandable why TCRA also threatened action against the media house (Clouds TV), but I also dismiss this move as being driven by rather archaic thinking that sees media houses as the primary actors.

New media has enabled individuals to be the primary actors, and so long as these individuals don’t feel the (social and economic) pinch of regulation, TCRA will continue to chase after the wind as we further entrust the commercially motivated, soft porn promoting entertainment industry to inculcate unwelcome behaviour in our kids.

If paid attention to, new media will reveal a great deal of insights into how such content comes to the mainstream. If this truly is an ecosystem, then traditional media is at the very bottom of the chain, feeding off what is produced in new media.

New media, therefore, creates and dictates the demand for content, but more importantly, it brings to surface the nuances of our changing social and cultural behaviour or misbehaviour.

Any regulation efforts should therefore begin with an appreciation of the role new media is playing, both by amplifying and shaping social norms. It is through this linkage that the regulators and other actors will be able to move from their current ineffective, paternalistic and anachronistic approaches, to more effective insight-based approaches.

Mr Rutenge is a graduate in media studies from the London School of Economics