Youth Lyrics, Street Language and the Politics of Age: Contextualising the Youth Question in the Third Chimurenga in Zimbabwe

Abstract

Journal of Southern African StudiesPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:

Between Globalisation And Localisation: Contradictory Impacts of the Seventy-Five Per Cent Local Content on the Music Industry in Zimbabwe

“…Moyo's statement that 'We have to use the state resources to promote a culture that is truly Zimbabwean, a culture that identifies us as a people and promotes our values' (The Daily News 21 May 2000, cited by Chiumbu 2004: 31) is a summation of the instrumentalist function of culture embedded in The Third Chimurenga. Thus, culture became a weapon of 'disinfecting' citizens, particularly the youth or 'born frees of the corrosive effects of Western cultural influence' (Bere 2008;Mate 2012). For some scholars the notion of 'Zimbabwean culture' and 'national identity' projected by the government was 'exclusive' and 'selective' rather than inclusive (Chiumbu 2004: 32).…”

Risky dialogues: the performative state and the nature of power in a postcolony

“…6 Sibanda, Maxwell and Conrad Nyamutata, Generous airplay fails to sell Hondo Yeminda, The Daily News, 12 November 2001. began to pledge their support to the opposition MDC. A new music genre 'urban grooves' began to cater for this group of listeners, and was largely brought into being through the introduction of measures to 'localise' radio and television content of the national broadcaster ZBC (Bere 2008;Chari 2008Chari , 2009Manase 2009Manase , 2011Mate 2012;Kellerer 2013). Section 11(3), 2(1) in the Sixth Schedule of a revised Broadcasting Services Act (BSA) stipulated that "a television broadcasting licensee must ensure that […] at least 75 percent of its programming content […] consists of local television content and material from Africa" and section 11(3), 5 stated that "a radio broadcasting licensee shall ensure […] at least (a) 75 percent of the music broadcast consists of Zimbabwean music [and] (b) 10 percent of the music broadcast consists of music from Africa".…”

“…16 Attempts to localise radio content ironically began to be perceived as undermining 'Zimbabweanness'. The contestations around the 'urban grooves' genre brought to the fore a new dimension of power: the generational politics within Zimbabwean music, and highlighted how young musicians both challenged the hegemonic position of long-time musicians such as Mapfumo and Mtukudzi while at the same time contesting established norms around 'morality' and 'decency' (see also Manase 2009;Mate 2012). This brought to the fore a new type of censorship that was not politically motivated but revolved around sexuality; it again confirmed the intimate dialogue and power play between musicians and the state (as represented by ZBH).…”

‘Zimbabwe will never be a colony again’: changing celebratory styles and meanings of independence

“…However, in the early 2000s, the official ceremony held on national days was supplemented with a second popular, less formal celebratory event, the 'music gala'. The music gala led to an intensification of state-led national day celebrations and should be understood in the broader context of ZANU-PF's growing appropriation of music, performance and popular culture; an effort to salvage the ruling party's decreasing legitimacy of the ruling party through a resurgence of 'cultural nationalism' in Zimbabwe (Thram 2006a(Thram , 2006bNdlovu-Gatsheni and Willems 2009;Muchemwa 2010;Mate 2012). The legitimacy crisis did not only give way to an increased use of force and state violence to quell any forms of dissent but also led to efforts to manufacture consent and to create a loyal, patriotic citizenry.…”

“…In order to impose this narrow brand of nationhood, the Zimbabwean government introduced the Citizenship Amendment Act in 2001 which denied citizenship to anyone whose parents were born outside Zimbabwe unless he/she would renounce their claim to a second citizenship. However, apart from enforcing this narrow mode of civic or political nationalism through a range of legal measures, ZANU-PF also embarked on a state-led revival of cultural nationalism that sought to both remind older Zimbabweans and to conscientise younger Zimbabweans of the party's role in the history of the nation (Thram 2006a(Thram , 2006bNdlovu-Gatsheni and Willems 2009;Muchemwa 2010;Mate 2012). Cultural nationalists perceive the nation as a product of history and culture.…”