URBAN MUSIC ENCOURAGING YOUTHS INTO POLITICS

By Wongani Rudoh Nzima

Music has been a powerful tool in politics since the 80's. Activists such as Bob Marley have been using their music inorder to influence change. As the 2019 Malawi tripartite elections are pending, the warm heart of Africa has witnessed the activeness of local urban artists in local politics and this has been greatly appreciated by local  citizens.

2014 tripartite elections marked the beginning of urban music intervention into Malawis politics when one of the presidential candidates Joyce Banda of Peoples Party (PP) included an urban song titled "Odi uko!" which comprised of rap and dancehall artists. This influenced youths to participate since they were inspired by their own idols. 

"I was greatly inspired seeing the likes of Fredokiss, Daredevils, Blak Jak and Young K doing a song for a political party. They influenced most of us as youths since it was a thing that has been never done before." Confessed Christopher Mbuli, a youth from Ntcheu.

Avo kado: Urban artist. 

This year, many urban artists especially from the genre of hiphop have personally involved themselves into politics. The first of them all was Avo kado who released a new single titled Chakwera Boma, praising leader of opposition Lazarus Chakwera of Malawi Congress Party. The song has more than 70 thousand downloads on Entertainment Malawi website. Download the song by clicking the link Avo kado - Chakwera boma


Next on the list was Chavura who released a song titled Nyimbo manga which was broadcasted on WhatsApp via his WhatsApp group called Nyambaro Muzak. Even though the song not political in nature, it has an outro which saw the artist encouraging youths to vote for the newly introduced party United Transformation Movement (UTM) whose leader is Saulos Chilima.

Fredokiss with youths after registration

The self-crowned ghetto King Kong Fredokiss together with urban music promoters, Mikozi encouraged youths to go and register as voters by posting photos of themselves registering at Zingwangwa voter registration centre. 

Member of parliament for Ntcheu central, Hon. Alfred Mangoni, applauded the development as a right direction to empower youths in politics.

"Youth involvement in politics is ideal for political development. Obviously, if urban artists are openly taking part in politics it will influence a lot of their fans to follow the path" He said.

The following is an iconic video of Bob Marley and The wailers band performing Redemption song, a political song which influenced a great change in the global political society.