Follow
Wandia Njoya
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Reviews
  • CV
  • Media
  • Gallery

#ElaniSpeaks: Music and the opportunity for change

15/1/2016

2 Comments

 
PictureSource: @Elanimuziki
I love music for many reasons, and this is one of them: Music reveals the truth about us.

​Music is human creativity in its purest form. It has no language or ethnicity. Music speaks to our souls even when we don’t understand the words. It reaches far beyond itself. It unites us when we’re divided. It calms us when we troubled. For many of us who study the world and are awed by the good in it, but still have to confront the human capacity for evil, music is the place where we accept those contradictions.  Music also trains our minds to be disciplined, warms our bodies by inspiring us to dance, and trains us to be skilled. It is no mistake that Thomas Südhof, 2013 winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, said that he owed his career in science to his basoon teacher.

​And music can also put food on the table.

PictureSource: @Elanimuziki
That is the message the Kenyan pop group Elani articulated so powerfully in a social media campaign questioning the payment of royalties to musicians by the Music Copyright Society of Kenya, the collective management organization mandated to collect royalties on behalf of musicians in Kenya. In the youtube video released by Elani, the musicians tell of the story of huge debt in the face of huge success. After a string of hits in 2014, MSCK sent them a paltry 31,000 shillings, and when the group sought a breakdown of the payments, MCSK tried to buy their compliance by sending them another sum, ten times the original amount. But by then, Elani wasn’t satisfied with the lack of answers, and posted the video calling for transparency and accountability in the music body. And I hope they don’t stop asking.

For me who has fought tooth and nail to keep our music programs alive at our university, the discussion #ElaniSpeaks presents a single moment that reveals the contradictions within not only the music industry in Kenya, but within our national psyche as well. And these contradictions have deeply impacted music education. 

First of all, one of the biggest obstacles our department fights every day is the attitude that music can’t put food on the table. However, the revenues collected by MCSK prove anything but, because the music body rakes in billions from music played in matatus, media, film, adverts and other forums, but returns laughable sums to the musicians. Not surprisingly, some cynical Kenyans are saying that the theft proves that music isn’t a viable career, but we haven’t said the same of agriculture, yet farmers also lose billions in foreign exchange to brokers, auctions and taxes.

The courage to speak so poorly of music and the arts is tied to the political climate in which arts and arts education in Kenya struggle to thrive. In 2010, Deputy President William Ruto, then Higher Education minister, threatened to withdraw funding for the arts programs, implying that the arts are irrelevant. To my knowledge, no one has called him to account for that view, but worse, he now co-heads a government with a schizophrenic approach to the arts.

While the Jubilee government has waxed on and on about its support for the youth, many of whom are engaged in the arts, it has done little to secure the youth already engaged in the arts. Just last week, a few days before Elani released their video, the president was promising the youth from Coast province a talent academy. So #ElaniSpeaks raises the question: what is the point of nurturing talent if the graduates of the academy wont earn a living from it?

And we’re not just talking about music. The Football Federation of Kenya, one of Kenya’s most dysfunctional organizations, evokes a lot of pain in many of us because the bulk of the people affected by the corruption within the organization are the youth. Athletics Kenya is not very far from behind, except that the athletes seem to be more organized in demanding accountability from the body. But that war is far from won.

What pains me most in all these contradictions is this: why have we not asked these politicians about the arts, arts education and opportunities for the youth? In 2012 and 2013, the media treated us to elaborate presidential debates and townhall gatherings, where aspiring political representatives met with audiences to discuss the politicians' agendas. Sure, we were promised stadiums and academies, but if Kenyan sports and arts have thrived so far without them, it means those material things are not within our immediate needs. What we need is accountable leaders in football, athletics, music and any other venture, so that the youth earn from their sweat. Yet the media just asked generic questions about “what are you going to do about…”, to which politicians replied with generic, physical solutions that didn’t address the human heart of the problems each of the sectors is dealing with.

The lesson of the #ElaniSpeaks tragedy is this: we Kenyans have to do our politics differently. Now that we’re heading towards an election, we need to organize forums to meet politicians as interest groups. KNUT should call a teachers’ conference where the teachers tell the presidential candidates what they need to do about education, the laptops project, and the professionalization of teaching. Musicians should call the same candidates and put them to task about royalties and copyright. The universities should challenge the candidates to put forward a coherent policy of higher education.  The same goes for women, the disabled, the footballers, sportsmen and sportswomen, the workers, the middle class, the slum residents, the farmers, the journalists, the medical workers and any other group that faces peculiar challenges. 

The reason we vote ethnically is because we rely on the media and the politicians to bring us together to discuss politics. The media is interested in ratings, even more than engaging the politicians on matters of media freedom, and so their programs tend to talk about everything under the sun. When we’re not relying on media, we’re relying on bumping into politicians at rallies and funerals where politicians will, inevitably, address us as ethnic groups. We can end this reliance on ethno-politics by organizing for politicians to address us as professionals and social groups. That way, we can stop being impressed by talk of money, buildings and infrastructure, when what we need are enabling environments. Talent academies, stadia, NYS, laptops, hospital and school buildings are useless if musicians, sportspeople, artists, medics, teachers and other youth and professionals cannot earn a decent living from the work they do. We the professionals on the ground can determine for ourselves what buildings and infrastructure we need, and ask for them from the politicians. 

​Just as music unites us as human beings, #ElaniSpeaks provides an opportunity for us to unite as Kenyans, and start to think politically as Kenyans. 2017 need not be a repetition of past elections.

2 Comments
@victornzomo link
15/1/2016 09:39:20 pm

"Musicians should call the same candidates and put them to task about royalties and copyright."

A tall order, indeed. In 2015, I witnessed MCSK members (the few who bothered to turn out) voting for Board Members and it didnt appear that these candidates were vetted and grilled by the members. As a result, several Board Directors from the previous regime were re-elected for new terms.

In addition, I have observed that unlike other professionals (eg. teachers), there is a total lack of unity among musicians. As we speak, there is no established and functioning union for musicians, there are no musician-led lobbies, interest groups or associations actively championing a common agenda for musicians in matters of governance or law/policy reforms.

Reply
Wandia
16/1/2016 04:36:07 pm

That is so sad. It is evident Kenyan musicians need a serious soul searching and unite for a common cause, otherwise thieves will always exploit their disunity.

I've heard that KNUT members from Central are not supporting the union leaders. I don't know how true that is. It means that the professionals need to rally around their own causes. The political elite already do.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    THANK YOU
    ​for voting for wandianjoya.com as
    ​best
    social issues and active citizenship blog
    2019!



    Wandia Njoya

    African. Woman. Wife. Teacher.

    Categories

    All
    147not Justanumber
    Administration
    Africa
    Arts
    Education
    Faith
    Football
    Health
    Ideas
    Kenya Elections 2017
    Kenya Elections 2022
    Land And Environment
    Leadership
    Love And Revolution
    Music
    Neoliberalism
    Racial To Ethnic Capitalism
    Rwanda
    Speeches
    Youth

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    June 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.