By Andrew Macdonell in South Africa
Give U2 frontman, Bono, a microphone and a politically loaded question and you are unlikely to get a “no comment”. So it proved last week when the Irish singer added his voice to the controversy surrounding the use of revolutionary ‘struggle’ songs in an open democratic society like South Africa.
Speaking to the South African “Sunday Times”, while promoting U2’s 360° world tour, Bono said that revolutionary music has its place.
"I was a kid and I'd sing songs I remember my uncles singing ... rebel songs about the early days of the Irish Republican Army," he said, before singing a song with lyrics that spoke of carrying guns and being ready to use them.
"We sang this and it's fair to say it's folk music ... as this was the struggle of some people that sang it over some time," he said to the newspaper.
Bono was speaking about Ireland, but he was certainly aware that his words might be twisted to apply to the South African situation. While the singing of violent struggle songs has a long history here, their continued use in the “new” South Africa is a source of considerable controversy.
President Jacob Zuma has his trademark song “umshini wam” (“bring me my machine gun”) which during his rise to power was the highlight of his rallies. Not surprisingly now that he is President, he has toned down such revolutionary calls to ‘storm the barricades’.
However it is Julius Malema, the firebrand leader of the ANC Youth League, who has caused most of the recent uproar. The Youth Leader been taken to task by the courts, and even certain sections of the ANC, for singing the “shoot the farmer” song at political rallies. Malema, sometimes referred to by the nickname “Juju”, is a hugely controversial figure in South African politics. His outrageous and provocative comments are a frequent source of either alarm, inspiration or humour, depending on your point of view.
Malema’s continued use of a song that contains the Zulu lyrics "dubul' ibhunu" (or "shoot the boer/farmer") is an ongoing source of heated debate. The issue came to a head in April last year when Eugene Terre'Blanche, leader of the far-right AWB and the personification of the Boer Farmer, was allegedly murdered by two of his black farm workers. The issue of farm murders, both of white farmers and black farm workers, is one of those emotional subjects that still polarises the country. No direct link between the murder and Malema’s singing has been proved, yet it was one of those uncomfortable moments in South Africa when the nation held its breath.
In this context, Bono’s comments sparked a fierce debate on Talk Radio and on the internet as listeners latched onto his comments for endorsement of one side or the other.
To give Bono his due, the considered opinion of many commentators is that the Sunday Times grossly misrepresenting his comments. The streetlamp posters that trumpeted “Bono guides Juju” were mischievous at best and almost certainly plain misleading.
Following the recent furore, Bono expressed his irritation at the misrepresentation of his position and clarified what he meant:
"It's kind of a bit mad to be honest with you. We're famous for songs of non-violence. That anyone should think we were pro-this, it's barking barking mad and I think it's been stirred up," he told Talk Radio 702.
All in all, Bono has emerged from this controversy with his reputation enhanced. He has gained substantial publicity for his concert tour and has managed to successfully diffuse the row.
However the story has reignited discussion about whether there is space for such songs in a fledgling, and possibly fragile, democracy.
Such songs could be banned outright; but that approach is unlikely to work and will merely increase their shock value for provocative, populist politicians like Malema.
And if they are allowed, who is entitled to sing them and on what platforms? I suspect part of the reason for the ‘storm in a tea-cup’ that Bono caused, was because of who he is. It is one thing to have Julius Malema chanting provocative lyrics – we almost expect it of him – but quite another to have them ‘apparently’ endorsed by a visiting foreign rock star.
Revolutionary songs are part of history and, as such, they ought to be celebrated and remembered. However as Bono pointed out while in South Africa, the intention behind the singing of these songs is everything:
"It's about where and when you sing those songs. There's a rule for that kind of music."
A sense of historical perspective is also important for as a song, that needs no introduction to readers of the Caledonian Mercury, reminds us:
“Those days are past now, and in the past they must remain …”
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