Music tunes change to save lives

Days of flirting with art for art’s sake numbered

By Paul Udoto, Nairobi, Kenya

IF music be the weapon to fight Aids, then play on. There is power in music.

And, if firewood truly gives birth to ash, the late king of afrobeatFela Anilapo-Kuti, must be turning in his grave over how his son has taken the baton he passed on to him.

Unlike his father, renowned Nigerian musician Femi Kuti is bent on ruffling Aids feathers. This week he took his war to New York to curtain-raise the United Nations 26th Special Session.

The warm up at Irving Plaza supported the efforts of Africa Alive, an African-based network of youth organisations, to promote the prevention of HIV/Aids and safe sexual behaviour through entertainment. Time for dirty lyrics and suggestive gyrations are now being tempered by messages of caution.

This spirit seems gaining foothold among music icons after long periods of their events being synonymous with drug abuse and immorality.

"This crisis is ravaging our continent, " said Kuti, a vocal advocate for Aids education and awareness.

The irony of these heady times is that Aids respects neither artistes nor their fans. It has felled music icons including his own father Fela Kuti, Ugandan musician Philly Bongoley Lutaaya.

"The world’s eyes are on New York and what action our leaders will take to stop the devastation."

But here in Kenya at Nairobi’s Impala Club on Saturday, fireworks exploded, flares erupted, dancers cavorted and fans thunderously ululated to Princess Jully’s breathtaking exhortation, piga nduru.

Holding the microphone aloft with flowing attire, head gear and oversize earrings, she punctuated her Dunia Mbaya hit with refrains of the coded message : "Nairobi malo, Kila mtu shuka chini lakini usikule nyama bila juala. Iko dudu. (Come down . Don’t chew meat without the nylon. Everybody take care. There is a virus)"

Kenyan artiste Mighty King Kong with his characteristic walking stick sent the fans into a frenzy.

MCA Records recording artist Femi Kuti is the son of Afrobeat pioneer and Nigerian political revolutionary Fela Kuti, whose untimely death from Aids related causes in 1997 left his fans in mourning.

Femi Kuti’s album Shoki Shoki was released to tremendous critical acclaim last year, and received honours from the Kola All Africa awards and the World Music Awards. The United Nations Children’s Fund State of the World’s Report 2,000 included an Aids in Africa essay written by Femi, and he was selected to perform at last December’s Nobel Prize Award concert in Oslo, Norway.

Femi lives in Lagos, Nigeria and has extensively toured Europe and the US with his band, the Positive Force.

Between concert dates, Femi is preparing his next studio project, to be released soon.

Previously, music icons would collude with commercial musketeers to exploit their vast influence on fans and make fortune from misery. With their proverbial Midas Touch, celebrities have endorsed cigarettes, shoes, and cars ; now its time to approve life. It’s time to redeem images tarnished by reckless lifestyle characterised by booze, sex and drugs With their much adored celebrity status, they make excellent role models. Their near-religious hold on fans and celebrity ’halo effect’ could be a force for good. They can be instrumental in inspiring feckless youngsters to value life and behave more responsibly. Through social commentaries rather than inflammatory rhetoric and self-indulgent posturing of gangster rappers, they would be champions of worthy causes.

Across in Uganda, the gripping power of music in fighting Aids was shown by the late Philly Lutaya Bongoley. Dunia Weraba took up the mantle with Goodbye to this World a common hit on Uganda’s FM radio stations-a tragic song that warns listeners to protect themselves against Aids.

Down in South Africa actor and stand-up comedian Pieter-Dirk Uys told The Times Educational Supplement : "This is no time to be polite ; the house is on fire." He visits schools in South Africa and neighbouring countries. He talks openly about sex adding that there is no need for anyone to have sex if they don’t want to.

"I am very optimistic. This generation has a future, but if they make a mistake on a Friday or Saturday night, they will lose everything. And you can’t begin too early. I met a boy of nine who is a father." Dirk Uys is set to perform at London’s Tricycle Theatre from June 29.

Princess Diana was imbued with good looks, royal status and compassion that she devoted to the cause of land-mine victims and people living with HIV/Aids.

The 1999 Miss Tanzania Hoyce Temu, 23, visited kenya’s Nyumbani Children’s home to express support to the Aids orphans.

When American actress Susan Sarandon bumped along the dusty roads of Tanzania’s north-western Mara and Mwanza regions to spread Aids awareness last year, she could hardly believe how different it’s from the Hollywood glitz.

Actors Roger Moore, Nana Mouskouri and the late Audrey Hepburn occupied their ranks as United Nations goodwill ambassadors.

If music icons haven’t found what to live for, the Aids war is beckoning them.

Paul Udoto Email : pauludoto@hotmail.com

Additional reporting from Nigeria-AIDs Forum