Human Rights, Activism and Civility in Reggae Music: Critical Analysis of Lucky Dube’s Selected Songs
Main Article Content
Abstract
Human rights issues have occupied a greater space in the media and many social situations globally. Several human rights activists have played various roles which include, promoting the right for humans in and outside Africa through writing, symposia, conferences, music and so on. Music is said to be life and much of human entertainment revolves around music. Political movements often influence the desire for music thus informing artists to bridge the gap around pop and political activism. If music is paired with a politically heavy plot, it leans to the right or to the left. This affects the ability of the song to receive full recognition and consideration. A strong interrelationship between art, music, and culture characterizes the background of world politics. Sometimes music plays not only the function of cultural identity but does become a key element in communicating and defining the political institutions of the world. This paper examined the impact of Lucky Dube’s selected reggae songs in promoting civilization, activism and human right issues in the society. It critically analyses Lucky Dube’s role as an activist for human rights and how these selected songs are used to convey the message to the oppressed. This study used a humanistic approach theory, which involves evaluating the effect of messages conveyed by music on the primary audience. The drawing and interpretation of observations and sense which is not a quantitative impact evaluation was important in this context.
Downloads
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
This open-access article is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY-NC-SA) license.
You are free to: Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format.
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially. The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
No additional restrictions You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
How to Cite
References
Alvarez, L. (2008). Reggae rhythms in dignity’s diaspora: Globalization, indigenous identity, and the circulation of cultural struggle. Popular Music and Society, 31(5), 575-597
Bresson, J., Agon, C., & Assayag, G. (2011, November). OpenMusic: visual programming environment for music composition, analysis and research. In Proceedings of the 19th ACM international conference on Multimedia (pp. 743-746).
Kamimoto, S. (2015). Influence of Reggae Music on the Economic Activities of EABIC Rastafarians in Jamaica. Caribbean Quarterly, 61(1), 42-59.
Grass, R. F. (1986). Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: The art of an afrobeat rebel. The Drama Review: TDR, 30(1), 131 - 148.
Louw, P. E. (2017). Afrikaner music and identity politics in post-apartheid South Africa: Bok van Blerk and the De la Rey phenomenon. In Music as a Platform for Political Communication (pp. 89-108). IGI Global.
Rein, I. J., & Springer, C. M. (1986). Critical response and reply: Where's the music? The problems of lyric analysis.
Labinjoh, J. (1982). Fela Anikulapo-Kuti: Protest music and social processes in Nigeria. Journal of Black Studies, 13(1), 119-134.
Onyebadi, U. T., & Mbunyuza-Memani, L. (2017). Women and South Africa's anti-apartheid struggle: Evaluating the political messages in the music of Miriam Makeba. In Music as a platform for political communication (pp. 31-51). IGI Global.
Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Psychology Press.
Dagnini, J. K. (2011). The Importance of Reggae Music in the Worldwide Cultural Universe. Études caribéennes, (16).
Alvarez, L. (2008). Reggae rhythms in dignity's diaspora: Globalization, indigenous identity, and the circulation of cultural struggle. Popular Music and Society, 31(5), 575-597.
Onyebadi, U. (2018). Political Messages in African Music: Assessing Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy. Humanities, 7(4), 129.
Bogue, R. (2007). Deleuze's way: Essays in transverse ethics and aesthetics. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
King, S. A., Bays, B. T., & Foster, P. R. (2002). Reggae, Rastafari, and the rhetoric of social control. Univ. Press of Mississippi.
McKee, A. (2003). Textual analysis: A beginner's guide. Sage.
Blake, C., & Dayle, P. (2013). Beyond cross-cultural sensitivities: international human rights advocacy and sexuality in Jamaica. School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Buun, G.E. (2005). The Influence of Rastafarianism and Reggae Music on Jamaican and International Politics.
Onyebadi, U. (2018). Political Messages in African Music: Assessing Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, Lucky Dube and Alpha Blondy. Humanities, 7(4), 129.
Dube, L. (1990). Prisoner. Shanachie.
Dube, L. (1989). Together as one. CellulOid.
Mtshiselwa, N. (2014). A post-apartheid nation in chains? Relevance of Lucky Dube's Mickey Mouse Freedom in reconfiguring forms of oppression in South Africa today. Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae, 40(1), 57-76.
Leff, M. (1992). Things made by words: Reflections on textual criticism.
I., A. (2019, December 1). Lucky Dube as the Icon in the Reggae Music Industry [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://ivypanda.com/essays/lucky-dube/
Dave, N. (2014). Music and the myth of universality: Sounding human rights and capabilities. Journal of Human Rights Practice, 7(1), 1-17.
Odhiambo, E. (2010). Negotiating belonging: Discourse on culture and language for migrants from the global South. Policy & Practice-A Development Education Review, (11).
Elliott, David J. “Socializing” music education. Action, Criticism, and Theory for Music Education 6, no. 4 (2007): 60-95.
Magak, K., Kilonzo, S. M., & Miguda-Attyang, J. (2015). The place and prospects of indigenous theatrical performances in peacebuilding in Kenya. African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, 5(1), 18-40.
Onyebadi, U. (2017). Bob Marley: Communicating Africa's political liberation and unity through reggae music. International Communication Research Journal, 52(1), 56-79.
Hoad, N. (1999). Between the white man’s burden and the white man’s disease: Tracking lesbian and gay
Gakahu, N. (2017). Lyrics of Protest: Music and political communication in Kenya. In Music as a Platform for Political Communication (pp. 257-273). IGI Global.
King, S., Bays, B., & Foster, P. (2002). THE JAMAICA LABOUR PARTY’S “POLICY OF THE BEAST”: The Rhetoric of Social Control Strategies. In Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control (pp. 66-86). Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt2tvgj2.8
Larcher, A.A., & Robinson, C. (2013). Fighting Murder Music: Activist Reflections.
Messner, B.A., Jipson, A, Becker, P. J., & Byers, B. (2007). The hardest hate: A sociological analysis of country hate music. Popular Music and Society 30.4 (2007): 513-531.
Peddie, Ian. Popular Music and Human Rights Vol. 1. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2011.
Porter, E. (2002). What is this thing called jazz? African American musicians as artists, critics, and activists (Vol.6). Univ of California Press.
Spacklein, K. (2013). Nazi punk’s folk off: leisure, nationalism, cultural identity and the consumption of metal and folk music. Leisure Studies, 32(4), 415-428.
Tascon, S.M. (2015). Human rights film festivals: Activism in context. Springer.
Yudice, G. (2011). Afro reggae: Parlaying culture into social justice. Social Text, 19(4), 53-65.