Zimbabwe's Songs of Protest

The 1970s war of independence made Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo a star. He is the creator of Chimurenga (meaning struggle in Shona), a style which blends classic Shona sounds with Western rock and uses lyrics full of ambiguity and traditional proverbs. In songs like 'The Plight of the Rural People' and 'Send Your Children to War', Mapfumo sang about everyday problems like poverty and hunger as well as Zimbabweans' fight for freedom. At the height of his popularity the minority white regime banned his music and jailed him for three months.

Twenty-five years later, he's at it again. This time the target is President Robert Mugabe and his increasingly unpopular ZANU-PF government. Mapfumo's most recent album, released last December, is entitled Chimurenga Explosion "because people are realizing this country is collapsing." The album's two big hits 'Mamvemve' (Tatters) and 'Disaster' detail the grim state of Zimbabwe's economy and society. "There's no rule of law any more. People are just getting killed and the government doesn't care," says Mapfumo, 53. Though the government has ordered radio stations not to play the two songs, the album is the best-selling in Zimbabwe. "He sings the truth and people love him for it," says Deeri, a Harare taxi driver who won't give his surname for fear of harassment by government supporters.

"In weak democracies, musicians are like journalists," says Alpha Blondy, an Ivorian reggae star whose songs about corruption and racial division angered the Ivory Coast government in the lead-up to the country's military coup last December. "We are the voice of the voiceless." Mapfumo is untroubled by the ban on his new songs. "It makes me feel victorious because I know [the politicians] have actually understood the message," he says, sitting in the living room of his neat suburban Harare home. "We are trying to remind the corrupt that that's not the way to run Africa."