Opinion / Columnist
Of artists fostering & protecting tyrants
22 Jul 2017 at 10:12hrs | Views
People living in that country currently called Zimbabwe are going through what can be at best be called troubling times and at worst tyranny. As things stand we look at artists to not only to sing the "we are not politicians" or the "music is business" songs but to also take part in our quest for freedom from the rule of the strongman Mugabe. This is not a selfish request of failed political formations as some have put it but because one basic prerequisite of art is freedom. The first freedom we should all aspire for as citizens of that country is political freedom. It is not possible to be free in your head as an artist but be chained politically to the extent that you seek political and economic refuge in another neighbouring country.
Yet an anomaly of mostly artists from Matabeleland provinces going to perform at a Zanupf rally in Lupane is being defended by some people as those artists putting bread on their tables. Really? Do those artists want to be remembered as being part of the people who helped Zanu-PF continue its stranglehold on the country just for the sake of a few dollars? Could it be that in our time artists are so blinded by seeking money because they have lost a sense of the true significance of art? If someone offers to pay you even if they are the ones oppressing you and stopping your music from getting significant airplay they automatically become more important than the ones who stood by you when you were selling your first poorly edited DVDs? Are artists supposed to forget the history, tragedies and injustices perpetuated by their newly found benefactors?
Art is the measure of our intelligence, our wisdom and our freedom. We must not let anyone control what we as artists sing about, what we write and what we see as worthy art as Zanu-PF has done over the years and still support it in its endeavour to stay alive and relevant to the general populace. "The aim of art," wrote Aristotle, "is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." Art and artists should and can do better than to foster and protect tyrants like Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his Zanupf.
Tshaka Mgazo Ndlovu is a writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Yet an anomaly of mostly artists from Matabeleland provinces going to perform at a Zanupf rally in Lupane is being defended by some people as those artists putting bread on their tables. Really? Do those artists want to be remembered as being part of the people who helped Zanu-PF continue its stranglehold on the country just for the sake of a few dollars? Could it be that in our time artists are so blinded by seeking money because they have lost a sense of the true significance of art? If someone offers to pay you even if they are the ones oppressing you and stopping your music from getting significant airplay they automatically become more important than the ones who stood by you when you were selling your first poorly edited DVDs? Are artists supposed to forget the history, tragedies and injustices perpetuated by their newly found benefactors?
Art is the measure of our intelligence, our wisdom and our freedom. We must not let anyone control what we as artists sing about, what we write and what we see as worthy art as Zanu-PF has done over the years and still support it in its endeavour to stay alive and relevant to the general populace. "The aim of art," wrote Aristotle, "is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." Art and artists should and can do better than to foster and protect tyrants like Robert Gabriel Mugabe and his Zanupf.
Tshaka Mgazo Ndlovu is a writer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Source - Tshaka Mgazo Ndlovu
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