Campaign rallies and music: when artistes become political

The campaign season is upon us and the frenzy of 60 days is something that folks are looking forward to and the reasons are obvious.

In everyday life, music and politics seem like two pieces cut from different fabrics – no correlation whatsoever.

But during political rallies, the two form a bond so strong you’d think the artistes are always inspired by some political proclivity before entering a studio.

Lately, the music scene has been awash with artistes embarking on political rallies in support of different candidates. Songs that we would often hear on the radio or watch on television are given a different meaning – one suitable for a political stance.

This is an election year and it comes as no surprise that some of Bongo Flava’s biggest names will be at the forefront spearheading political agendas.

 From AliKiba, Diamond Platnumz, Harmonize, Zuchu, Rayvanny, Nandy and the rest, no artiste has been spared by the political wind comes swaying Bongo Flava’s way.

With CCM planning to use more than 500 songs in its election campaigns this year, one can’t help but wonder how this lion’s share leaves the rest of the hungry pack.

But also, this poses a few questions, with one remaining unanswered for many years concerning artistes who partake in these election activities; what becomes of them after election, how does this political entanglement affect their music?

 Do they have a say whether or not to be involved in politics? In reference to the latter, we’ve seen how artistes in the US have openly spoken out against President Donald Trump using their songs in his campaign rallies – this provides a different perspective to matters and whether our artistes are accorded the same privilege to dictate issues.

Ramadhan Nimrod is a big Harmonize fan. He is a a big fan of ‘Kwangwaru’ song featuring his former boss Diamond Platnumz.  

However, towards the end of last year, the 2019 hit song was given a political twist hailing the leadership efforts of President John Magufuli.

 To Nimrod, the move by Harmonize of affiliating the song with political sentiments has made him loathe the smash hit which had made airwaves across the East African region.

“Kwangwaru was a song sang by everyone,” he says, continuing: “I remember walking around the streets and hearing it play at every kiosk or barbershop – such was its pervasion. But soon after the political remix, the original release lost its taste. All I could think about whenever I heard the song was the political message attached to it.”

Nimord is not alone in this sentiment; Mwaidi Samba, a Dar es Salaam resident who’s been a diehard Bongo Flava fan for as long as she remembers does not support this political migration that artistes tend to make whenever election season nears.

 She opines that the impact of political involvement on the side of the artiste’s career can be quite severe.

“I’m a Chadema supporter, but I’m also a Diamond Platnumz fan. However much I like his music the idea of him associating his songs with a political message in support of the ruling party doesn’t augur well with me. Why would he blemish such great music with these election ideologies?” she questions.

But the reality remains that government heads always come running to artistes when election season nears in order to appeal to the younger crowd – a majority of whom follow and are influenced by what the artistes do and say – an impressionable level that defies logic at times. And it is this influence that political figures want to tap into.

Whether the artistes have a say in this deal to promote political party election manifestos and ideologies remains a question for another day, but what we’ve observed in this current election is that a majority of the artistes are campaigning for the ruling CCM party. Does this support for one political party represent their one-sided political views?

This was a question posed to artiste Harmonize during one of his performances, and he answered in the affirmative. The ‘Uno’ singer says that supporting the current president of Tanzania means supporting– CCM. He said that he doesn’t see any problem with using some of his most popular songs to send a message to the public about the achievements that have been recorded under the fifth phase administration.

Political aftermath

If history is anything to go by, there have been claims that some of these Bongo Flava artistes, especially those not considered heavyweights in the music industry do not reap the same rewards compared to the more popular names such as AliKiba and Diamond Platnumz.

In fact, records show that some of them fall off the face of the earth soon as campaign season is over. Whether this is directly attributed to the negative impact of mixing music with politics remains unclear, but a section of the crowd thinks that the two are linked.

Artistes such as 20 percent, Tunda Man, and Mr Nice are just some of the names that can easily be remembered when speaking of musicians supposedly eclipsed by election entanglements.

 For Mr Nice, his rise to prominence in early 2000s made him a household name in East Africa. This also made him an alluring figure to the public, consequently attracting the eyes of politicians.

He was used for campaigns in the past, but soon after his fame disappeared so did the interest from government officials. Granted, he had some problems outside the music business, but one cannot help but wonder the role his political affiliations played in his downfall as an artiste.

For 20 percent, 2020 elections have brought him back from obscurity. At a recent CCM rally in Dar es Salaam, the artistes resurfaced to fervent reception from fans. After his performance, he was questioned on his long hiatus. The ‘Money Money’ hitmaker said it was family matters that made him decide to put music aside, but now he is back and ready to pick up from where he left off.

It is not as clear as black and white whether politics and music are mutually exclusive, but what is clear as day is the fact that artistes always take center stage when election season reaches its boiling point and it is the fans left to digest how they feel about this mix of affairs.