How music has become the new tool of political mobilisation ahead of 2016 polls

But elsewhere, such as South Africa and USA, politicians and activists had long before discovered the power of music. For instance, the song, We Shall Overcome, was used by African American activists to rally for their rights to vote, and assemble, among other rights.
However, the 1990s were also hostile to the new breed of Ugandan musicians engrossed in the ‘raga’ genre. Most people viewed the artistes as bayaaye (loosely translated as society misfits).
As musician Moses Ssali, aka Bebe Cool, puts it, the music industry was not booming.
“We were looked at as lumpens. Musicians were so laid back.”

Bebe Cool is an artiste of modern times who has been around NRM circles and specifically party leader President Museveni.
The Uganda Peoples Congress had formulated mobilisation chants which were frequently used even at State functions. Both the youth and party members would chant in unison to the admiration of struggling political parties then.
Women dressed in African kitenge fabric on which former president Milton Obote’s face was printed, school children in old uniforms and men dressed as they wished all sang about UPC most times praising Obote for his government’s achievements.

Veteran singer David Jjingo remembers party members who sang for UPC with passion.
“They would sing and dance to their common tune... ooh maama, the congress of the people... They were powerful indeed.”
In the 1980s, Democratic Party would also come up with their Egumire Egumire DP tune that is sang with energy but with little appeal of musicality in it.

Music featured much on the political scene of 1980 during the general election and after.
Dr Obote and his party claimed victory in the election that was allegedly more of a widely staged show of irregularities.
The same election led Uganda to the civil war of 1981 to 1986.
Mr Museveni, then of the little known Uganda Patriotic Movement (UPM), fulfilled his threat of launching a guerrilla war to redeem Uganda from injustices.

The National Resistance Army (NRA) had officially started.
During the war, the NRA used the arts to mobilise citizens to support the cause as well as boost the morale of the fighters.
The rebel outfit gave the Obote government the worst challenging times. Hitting the rebel areas with mighty military force did not deter the guerrilla fighters who stood their ground with inferior rifles.

One of the things that kept these men advancing in the bush was the cheapest of all – music.
“We sang morale-boosting songs in different languages. It is those songs that kept the spirit. In the start these songs were in Swahili, Luganda and Ruyankore because most of the first fighters recruited were from the central and western regions,” The Chief Political Commissar, Col Felix Kulayigye, said.
Fighters were not in combat all the time. So, music would be used to occupy them as they got to appreciate the purpose of the struggle through lyrics they sang.

When the late Brig Chefe Ali joined NRA, his comrades remember him as a reserved man with a span of knowledge and talent.
Brig Chefe had trained in Mozambique before with fighters of the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique. He knew the art of resistance. He had learnt from Mozambique that music fuels the mind of a man in the centre of an important struggle.

He taught NRA fighters morale-boosting songs. When a fighter fell to enemy assault, fighters would sing in memory of them. When they captured new ground, tunes like Moto Wawaka would be sang. Other songs were to mobilise the population.
“We started operating a radio frequency in the bush.”

After the bush war, NRA continued to use music as is when it changed to UPDF.
Artistes were doing songs of hope. Uganda had been hit by post-war challenges like disease, hunger and poverty. Philly Lutaaya’s Voices are Crying Out was among the famous tunes then.
Tension again engulfed the country in 1996 campaigns and election time. Many Ugandans, feared that what happened in 1980 might resurface.

Two candidates took on Mr Museveni... Kibirige Mayanja and DP’s Kawanga Ssemogerere. Mr Museveni comfortably won the race. Voters sang a few slogans in support of candidates but not with much interest and zeal as it would later be, in 2001 and 2006.
In 2006, there was a controversial episode in Parliament in which MPs quashed a clause in the Constitution that restricted presidential terms. The excitement and displeasure about the decision was talk across the country.

Mr Museveni and NRM’s supporters would chant bamwongere ekisanja to mean add him [Museveni] another term. Towards 2006, real songs in support of kisanja [third term] started.
Artistes, known, less known and not known at all, offered solicited and unsolicited works in support of Mr Museveni.
Notably, The Kads Band and Bebe Cool did a whole album with political songs in support of Museveni. Then a defence minister, Amama Mbabazi launched the album and bought a copy at Shs7 million.
“There is a lot of opportunity that musicians have to tap into,” says Bebe Cool.
Afrigo Band’s Moses Matovu links artistes singing mobilization songsthis to one thing, money.

“They [artistes] don’t sing because they truly love those parties. They are looking for money. Personally, I don’t sing politics anymore.”
By 2003, Bebe Cool was already friends with President Museveni despite his father, Jaberi Bidandi Ssali falling out with Mr Museveni over the lifting of term limits.
In 2005/6, approximately Shs120 million was spent by NRM on artistes for mobilisation according to reports then.

The opposition mainly depended on music that was done by artistes who had no intention to use it for campaigning. Ronald Mayinja’s 2005 Tuli ku Bunkenke topped the list.
“I composed the song because I was seeing a lot of unjust things going on. I never intended it to be used by Opposition. I think they liked it, probably we were seeing things the same way,” said Mr Mayinja.

In 2011, the trend soared. Some artistes were hired by NRM, FDC, DP and other politicians seeking elective positions.
Mr Museveni would add flavour to his campaigns with his Mp’enkoni rap single. Mp’enkoni was successful, on campaign rallies and social media. On Youtube, the Mp’enkoni video had by mid-December collected some 210,000 hits online, a remarkable figure by Ugandan standards. The rapping President attempted another single release in 2015 only to hit a snag.

The song, Yengoma, was hurriedly done. As a seasoned music producer noted on NTV Talking Arts preview of the song in August 2015, the Yengoma producer was not creative at all by taking the President to the studio to sing to a pre-programmed sound track.
“The President is not a musician but he can do good poetry. It is easy to synchronise his poetry with a sound track,” Mr Joe Tabula noted.
Realising Yengoma had poor reception, strategists changed to another plan. Again Bebe Cool was called in to head the Tubonga Naawe project for NRM.

The Tubonga Naawe is a song recorded by a number of top musicians praising Mr Museveni and NRM.
Some of the artistes of the Tubonga Naawe promotion song move with the NRM presidential candidate, Mr Museveni, on his campaign trail.
Songs in support of Opposition are hard-hitting. Besigye Songa Mbele by Adams and Akalulu ka Colonel by Kadongokamu singer Fred Ssebaale are standing out.

“I sing what I believe in,” Mr Ssebaale said, “FDC has not paid me but my song being a part of a struggle for a cause makes me proud.”
Mr Ssebaale has sang for Opposition politicians like Erias Lukwago in past elections. The trend to work for politicians looks like a benefitting spree for some of the artistes but where it leaves the industry is a big question.
Andrew Benon Kibuuka, the head of the federation of performing artistes, says the trend is a healthy one for artistes. He is convinced artistes will earn respect first and then money.
In these recent years, artistes have not stopped at singing or acting. Many have gone ahead to seek elective positions. Some have political bias that is evident in their music or other artistic works, for example, Kato Lubwama of the Diamonds Production, who is seeking a Parliament seat for Lubaga South in Kampala; others simply want to exchange their popularity for political positions.

The evolution of music as seen in the past series of Songs of Resistance is progressive. Artistes will move with what the times dictate and not their conscience.
Whether they sing for politicians to earn a living or because they want to demonstrate a particular cause, that is different.
What is clear is that the trend is only starting to grow.

History of we shall overcome resistance song

The song We Shall Overcome is a protest song that became a key anthem of the African-American Civil Rights Movement. It is widely speculated that the title and structure of the song are derived from an early gospel song, “I’ll Overcome Someday”, by African-American composer Charles Albert Tindley (1851–1933). However, although there are lyrical similarities, the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic and lyrical structures of Tindley’s hymn are radically different from that of “We Shall Overcome”.
We Shall Overcome” began as a folk song, a work song. Slaves in the fields would sing, ‘I’ll be all right someday.’ It is not a marching song. It is not necessarily defiant. It is a promise: “We shall overcome someday. Deep in my heart, I do believe.”

It has been a civil rights song for 50 years now, heard not just in the U.S. but in North Korea, in Beirut, in Tiananmen Square, in South Africa’s Soweto Township.
The first political use came in 1945 in Charleston, S.C. There was a strike against the American Tobacco Co. The workers wanted a raise; they were making 45 cents an hour. They marched and sang together on the picket line, “We will overcome, and we will win our rights someday.”

The writer is a senior anchor and reporter at NTV Uganda