Why 2021 campaign songs fell flat

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THE PILGRIM, Friday, December 10, 2021*

In the run-up to the 2021 general elections, I wrote about the strategic use of political entertainment as a medium for effective campaigns, with the admonition that “[it’s] either politicians exploit the music or underrate it at their own peril.”

As alternative media, music tends to “mediatise” politics in its own way, insofar as setting discursive parameters for political debate is concerned.

But beyond its influence on dialogue, music also mobilises, educates and stimulates people, in powerful ways that can dramatically determine what contours a particular election takes.

So because of these characteristics of music, its use in Zambia’s political world has become popular, and established in many other parts of the world.

The former ruling party, the Patriotic Front (PF), had set a strong precedent for this phenomenon in 2011, just as a climax though because the party was already in the habit of exploiting songs, starting with Nathan Nyirenda’s Mwe Makufi (My knees) in 2006 and later Hamoba’s Icintu Cintu Tumwene (What matters is what we’ve seen).

And with the Donchi Kubeba (Don’t tell them) song in 2011, PF, under its founder Michael Sata, proved that much of its political success could be explained by music.

But clearly in the last election, the PF did not fit the foregoing narrative, despite their relatively massive investment in political music.

Their virtual rallies incorporated the music with pomp and pageantry, but it did not seem to achieve the intended effect because the party humiliatingly lost the election at presidential level.

So where did they go wrong and what lessons can be gleaned from PF’s wide use of music in the polls?

Well, it appears that mere correlation between music and political success doesn’t always mean causation. There’s more to it than meets the eye.

Beyond the thrills of good music, there were other variables that would determine who becomes president, and that’s the point the PF missed.

The state of the economy was the overriding variable.

But the PF had stuck to the infrastructural development narrative and tried to sear it into the Zambian psyche as hard as they could.

However, with the cost of living becoming unbearable, voters looked into a different direction, in search of political promises centred on economic recovery.

It was President Hakainde Hichilema’s United Party for National Development (UPND) that provided that much-needed alternative.

The last elections were thus a matter of issue voting, with the odds tilting in favour of leaders who took advantage of the trend.

It wasn’t just about showbiz. So music without substance had its usual feel-good feeling, but it ended up, to use pertinent Biblical phrases, as merely resounding gong or clanging cymbal.

As such, did the PF suffer from a failure of perception? It looks more like it.

As researcher Paul Goren states, “if representative democracies are to function properly, elected officials must address the policy concerns of the public and wield government power to solve these problems. Public officials who respond effectively to these concerns should be rewarded with election to office, and those who fail to do so should be denied office. This responsiveness depends in turn on the clarity of the policy signals articulated by the electorate. In this regard, voters perform reasonably well in presidential elections.”

Accordingly, it’s either the PF never read the policy signals from the public well, or they arrogantly imposed what they thought to be important issues on people.

For example, President Edgar Lungu himself, in a Facebook post, once said "let us all, therefore, understand that infrastructure is the foundation and core 'input' for all other 'output' or productivity activity in the economy."

But though the economy was in distress, the PF went on to promote infrastructure as a major political issue even in their songs, typically in Rich Bizzy’s hit track called Alebwelelapo.

To illustrate, one line in the song says, “Ba Lungu, ba Lungu, tata mwabombeni. Nemisebo tatwakwete nomba natukwata. (Mr Lungu, Mr Lungu, congratulations on working hard. We didn’t have roads earlier, but now we do).”

For many Zambians, so long as they could not afford food under the former government, roads, bridges and other infrastructure were not sound indices of economic development. What Zambians wanted were jobs, lower taxes and affordable food.

The PF’s music was thus a mismatch.

It thus follows that while music is a powerful electioneering tool, if its content doesn’t address the salient issues of the day in an election, its use becomes a futile exercise. This is because the voters, who are the intended consumers, won’t identify with it.

For President Hichilema, he picked the policy signals and couched his message thus: “The country, now more than ever before, needs visionary leadership and economic management skills. If elected to office the United Party for National Development (UPND) commits to working tirelessly on behalf of all Zambians to deliver. We will create jobs, put food on your plate, cut corruption, provide better services and restore freedom of speech.”

The UPND political song itself, Tatwafola by musician Cavman, highlighted this point, with lyrics such as “civil servant walifola eh? Tatwafola, tatwafola ukepushe tu PF (Civil servant, have you been paid? No, No, ask the PF).”

With such a context, the UPND’s political music and message resonated far more easily with the people, and thus propelled them to an astounding victory at presidential level.

Going forward, political parties, prior to making investment in political entertainment, should ensure that their perception is correct about what issues people on the ground are grappling with.

If they don’t do that, production of music for the mere fun of it would be disastrous.

*This column is published every Friday in Zambia's best-selling newspaper, the Zambia Daily Mail