Politics and Music, What Influences the Other? An Interview by Prof Afunaddula

Third Interview With Afunaddula And Mahiri Balunywa On The

Question On Politics And Music

This is an interview with Mahir Balunywa and Prof Afuanaddula, an educative eye opener for the reader.

OA. Mahir Balunywa, thank you for agreeing to hold a third interview with me. I believe your interviews are having a lot of impact on the public. I am personally impressed, and this won't be the last interview with you.

To begin off, you promised that you would talk about music and politics. Are you ready?

MB. Set the ball rolling.

OA. To what extent has music influenced politics?

MB. Before I talk about how music has influenced politics, I want to talk about how politics has influenced music.

OA. But don't confuse me. What is the difference between music influencing politics and politics influencing music?

MB. The two are really different. In research, for a topic to be valid it must have two variables: the dependent variable and the independent variable. Music can be an independent variable and the former a dependent variable and vice versa.

Let me start with politics as an independent variable. First and foremost, politics is a core space for human activities. This space has historically been occupied by politicians.

OA. Who are these you call politicians? Are there special people who are politicians and others are not?

MB. You should know that politics is a codified body of knowledge that basically focuses on governance of society. That is what I believe. One social scientist called Lasswell says politics is about who gets what, why, when, where and how. Politicians are simply those who engage in politics, either to serve society or themselves or their families.

Those who serve themselves are called political entrepreneurs and these are ready to do anything, including killing, to consume and appropriate resources. They believe in the adage "You swallow me or I swallow you"; you either kill me or I kill you; I either win an election or win.

The second category of politicians are those who serve and sacrifice for society. They put society before self. They work to serve, not to earn. And they serve themselves and their families last.

OA. Now, Mahir, which category do you want to tell me about in detail?

MB. Which category are you interested in?

OA. Both because we have both of them in Uganda.

MB. Back to my standpoint, politics was for politicians and music was for musicians. The two were mutually exclusive. When the politicians ran out of ideas, they opened the political door for the musicians to enter.

OA. Why musicians mainly and not others?

MB. The first categories to be invited were the economists and this gave birth to political economy. The political economists harmonized the two disciplines and how best thy should co-exist. In this respect, the Political super structure determines the economic sub structure. However, the economics influences the politics. Could this be the reason why we today decry of the use of money in Ugandas body politic? Is this what we are today calling political financing?

The military set in, they invaded the political space, over throw the politicians and created what I prefer calling Military Politics. They did this in Uganda by entrenching the military in the executive wing of government and further forced them selves into the parliament of Uganda when they justified Military representation in the legislative arm of governance. To me this marked the beginning of political instability. To this end the judiciary seems to be the only free political space of the civilians, though the concept of legal cadres seems to be on the rise. It appears that the military capture of the executive and the parliament makes them to believe that politics is for the military. My belief is that politics is for the non-uniformed men and women (civilians) not for the military. The military is supposed to protect the politics, but not to participate in it. It is for this very reason that the civilians in Sudan (Khartoum) are struggling to assume their political space from the military. This they have done by rejecting, first the Bashir Military government, and now they are also saying no to the new military government.

The musicians and their music industry have created political music. However, . They have been doing this for quite long. Unlike the military which entrenched themselves into the politics of Uganda, the Musicians were invited by the civilian politicians and military politicians in this political space. The two (musicians and the politicians) co-existed in as long as they remained in their respective space. This made them to be good sisters and brothers. However, when the Musicians crossed into politics,( by vying for political office) there emerged bad blood, conflicts and tension flared up. This created enemy sisters and brothers in the space of politics. Today, the popular sentiments are Let Musicians concentrate on music and the military concentrate on politics”. As I have argued before, there seem to be anew wave of civilian rise telling the military to concentrate and stay in the barracks. This is fundamentally the rise of civilians in the Arab spring, which we have experienced in many Arab countries, the recent being in Sudan.

OA. Tell me more about that.

MB. When the politicians were fighting for the rights of society they invited the musicians to come in with their melodies to deliver their political messages. That is when politicians started to move with musicians to grace their political rallies. This is what I call political music. Mzee, I am sure you have seen this since your days of UPC, DP and NRM, FDC, and now People Power.

OA. Why do you say your days of UPC, DP etc. During the early days of UPC and DP I was a child. The first time I ever elected was 1996 when I voted for Kawanga Ssemiwogere. Then I voted again in 2001 for Kizza Bezigye. I have never voted again.

MB. Well, Mzee, you were a member of the Presidential Policy Commission of UPC from 2000 to 2005 when the President of the Party removed you. You served with my father, Sheikh Anna's Kinyiri. During that period, we used to hear many political songs.

OA. Did you see any music politician then? This is a new phenomenon in Uganda, which I want you to expand on.

MB. That's correct. Globally politics and music have been twin friends or twin enemies.

Music by its very nature is inherently political. This is because musicians have from time immemorial been singing about the social ills that politicians have wrought on society. This dates way back to the time when folk classical music entered into the political space. This period witnessed the upsurge of populist music.

OA. Do you know of any musicians whom you can characterise as music politicians?

MB. Well, it seems you are still preoccupied with the preposition of music influencing politics, although I preferred the other way round.

OA. That is what I wanted and you took me away from it.

MB. Before I make mention of the best political musicians, I wish to put it on record that the political musicians are the most beloved globally, nationally and locally. This is because they are not afraid to stand up and expose social injustices. They have replaced religious leaders in this human need.

The global music politicians include Bob Marley, Lucky Dube of South Africa, Peter Tosh, Jonny Cash, Joan Baez and Bruce Springsteen. At the National level in Uganda we now have Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu aka Bobi Wine.

OA. Is Music in any way related to Comedy and Acting? Have some people made their way to the top through comedy and acting?

MB. History has it that the right hand of music is comedy and the left hand of music is acting. This means that music stands at the centre being supported by comedy and acting.

Ronald Reagan, the 43th President of USA, acted in over 19 films. One of them was in 1937 and it was called Love is on the Air. The other film was Dark Victory. In all that he acted and actually was the President of the Screen Actors Guild. He more or less prepared himself to become the American President, and he became.

A few days ago Ukraine produced a comedian President called Volodymyr Zelensky, who defeated Viktor Yushchenko by 73%. I want to add that he campaigned online. He never went to the masses as Viktor did. He was known as a political novice. Like Reagan before he became the Ukrainian President, he acted in a popular television comedy called Ukraine's President.

OA. I want you to tell me about Uganda's music politician, Bobi Wine. Who is Bobi Wine? What do you foresee?

MB. Well, I don't want to look at Bobi Wine as a music politician only. I also want to look at him as a political music politician. He is two in one, or more in one.

OA. You man, what exactly do you mean?

MB. Right from the very beginning his music was political long before he became s member of Parliament. When I was a student in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration at Makerere University, I enjoyed his popular song called Situka Tugende. In this song he laments "When the going gets tough the tough must get going; when leaders become misleaders and mentors become tormenters. When freedom of expression becomes a target of suppression, opposition becomes our position". I was inspired by these words. I knew the song before I knew the man.

OA. Mahir, you sound as if you are a supporter of Bobi Wine?

MB. I am neither a supporter nor a promoter. I am just a student of politics who is interested in anything political.

OA. You have not told me who Bobi Wine is? I have heard some big wigs in NRM dismiss him as a nonstarter who is blindfolded and has no business in politics; that he should stick to music and leave politics to those who are politicians. Are they talking from a point of ignorance because they don't know the connection between music and politics?

MB. Are you aware that Bobi Wine holds a Bachelor's degree in music, dance and drama from Makerere? Are you aware that this young man enrolled for a leadership course called Leadership for the 21st Century at Harvard Kennedy School of Government in USA? Are you also aware that he has enrolled for a Bachelor of Laws at Cavendish University -Uganda? This is a man who some 15 years ago was recognised as the Ghetto President by fellow musicians and fans, and he was respected and recognised in the music industry by almost all the musicians. If you don't know all that about him, then you should at least know that he is a Member of Parliament representing a constituency in Kyadondo. If you don't know him as such at least know him as one who has successfully campaigned for some Members of Parliament in Eastern, Central, Northern and Western Uganda.

It is, therefore, politically suicidal to ignore him or dismiss him as a political novice. I think those calling him a political novice should seek remedy in the political science laboratory to improve their political knowledge. There is a lot about the relationship between music and politics and Bobi, Wine is an embodiment of that relationship.

OA. Are you saying Bobi Wine Is a presidential material?

MB. What do you mean by presidential material?

OA. I mean one who has all the credentials to be President of Uganda without consideration of the military.

MB. If that's what you mean then the Constitution of Uganda, which spells out the qualifications for President, favours him. And going by the increasing influence of the people power slogan, I am afraid he might surprise the country just like the Ukrainean President did. Chinua Achebe says that when you see a small bird dancing in the middle of the pathway, refusing to leave for the village chief to pass, then know there is a big drum in the nearby bush.

OA. Mahir, I thank you very much for your views. However I ask you to write a paper on Political Music and music politicians in Uganda. I will not say goodbye because we shall meet soon to address another topic.