Music in Unification and Resistance: Song and Artistic Performance since Land Reform in Zimbabwe

International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume III, Issue IX, September 2019 | ISSN 2454–6186

Music in Unification and Resistance: Song and Artistic Performance since Land Reform in Zimbabwe

Isaac Machafa¹, Praise Zinhuku^2
1Lecturer, Department of Music Business, Musicology and Technology, Midlands State University, Zimbabwe
²Lecturer, Department of Performing and Visual Arts, Great Zimbabwe University, Zimbabwe

Abstract:-Song and artistic performance have long been dominant discourses in liberation struggles across the globe. Southern Africa, the United States of America, Ireland, and Latin America are just a few examples of where lyrics of freedom and artistic performances, used as a means of unification and resistance, have entered popular culture and the political imaginary during and well after times of struggle. In Zimbabwe similar trends are evident as several indigenous performing groups have used song and artistic performances to express their life aspirations in view of the new obtaining economic environment after the land reform of year 2000. This paper discusses how song and performance constitute a space of assertion and how performances of liberation have been translated into an expressive tool well after the attainment of political independence. The paper also discusses how song and artistic performance has adjusted to the opening and/or closing of space (temporal, geographical, psychological, and symbolic) within our indigenous traditional societies.

Key words: artistic performance, land reform, resistance, struggle, unification.

I. INTRODUCTION

This paper discusses what characterises the song and artistic performance arena in Zimbabwe since the adoption of the land reform programme at the turn of the 21st century. The authors’ lived experiences as music educators, traditional music festivals performances and as music critiques before, during and after the land reform, dialogue with practising artists, music and dance festival directors and administrators inspires and informs the study.

II. BRIEF BACKGROUND OF LAND REFORM IN ZIMBABWE

The land reform of 2000 was a government program of land re-distribution with a special focus on redressing the colonial racial imbalances with regards to land ownership. During the colonial period from September 1890 up to April 1980 the country Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia was governed by the colonial administration of Britain, beginning with a movement called the Pioneer Column.

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