Bobi Wine, Uganda’s democracy hunter
which made it to this year’s Oscar awards, showed music and art’s role in the pursuit of freedom and democracy.
It should have won the Best Documentary Feature Film award because it enlightened the world about the role of music and art in the fight for freedom and safeguarding democracy.
Unfortunately, music and art are often still regarded as mere entertainment and Africa and the rest of the world need reminding that there is much more to them and more to music than showcasing posh life, singing and dancing.
Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, best known by his stage name Bobi Wine, is a Ugandan musician and actor turned activist and democracy hunter.
His music has made him into a communicator against the human rights violations, gloss inequalities, atrocities, corruption, oppression, suppression and repression of political activism in a seasoned authoritarian regime of 38 years, which came to power in 1986 through gun violence and a military coup.
Bobi Wine, the People’s President missed the top spot but was among the top five Oscar nominees in the category.
The documentary enlightened the world about the atrocities, the brutality wrought on journalists, gross inequality, violence against civilians and the plight of Ugandans demanding change.
It showcases videographers and photographers using cameras and digital tools as a deterrent to gun violence and exposes the political injustices and repression in the country.
Music’s direct effect on human behaviour starts with the putamen (nucleus) of the brain, which processes rhythm and regulates body movement.
For example, the rhythmical slogan used by Bobi Wine’s opposition party, the National Unity Platform, has been used at political assemblies and for encouraging the younger generations’ participation in politics.
The Ugandan opposition leader is not the first to use the confluence of music and art. He joins the likes of South Africans such as Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, Caiphus Semenya, Mama Letta Mbulu, Philip Tabane and Julian Bahula.
Fear is one of the leading factors authoritarians use to suffocate democracy. But music can inspire fearful populations to protest against authoritarianism and kleptocracy.
Scientifically, music triggers the amygdala part of the brain which processes and triggers emotions.
“Music can control your fear, make you ready to fight and increase pleasure,” neuroscientist Kiminobu Sugaya and world-renowned violinist Ayako Yonetani wrote in an article published in Pegasus, the magazine of the University of Central Florida in the US.
Bobi Wine’s music has done much to stimulate the minds of young people and encourage them into meaningful participation in democratic processes, amid authoritarianorchestrated fear.
For instance, his presidential bid in 2021 helped to launch young people into political spaces, including Frank Kabuye Kibirige becoming an MP for Kasanda South and Ssempijja Joseph becoming the Mpigi district governor, both at the age of 24.
Bobi Wine’s music has gone further than minimising fear; it has instilled courage. Today, young people are in local and central government and parliament, dominating headlines and front pages.
Makeba’s song Soweto Blues gave many South Africans the courage to push back against apartheid oppression and eventually overcome it. If you play someone’s favourite music, the brain lightens up in reaction. Music and art are used as an avenue for freedom of expression to deliver critical messages; express political demands and catalyse democratic leadership around the world.
In the documentary, art is used as a tool for personal reflection and fostering an understanding of people’s desire for freedom from President Yoweri Museveni’s kleptocratic regime.
Bobi Wine’s music and art have planted the seeds in other artists’ minds to become activists for a fair, just and inclusive democratic society.
For instance, Jimmy Ssentongo, commonly known as Dr Spire, is a university professor who uses cartoons in print and social media to drive public discourse, change narratives, bridge diverse opinions and to promote accountable governance in Uganda.
Dr Spire’s recent exhibition commented on corruption in parliament and the government’s wasteful expenditure of taxpayers’ money, with impunity.
Isano Francis, a photojournalist with Next Media, is using the camera to shed light on political dialogues, public life and political liberation demonstrations.
But authoritarians worldwide are not blind to the influence of music and art. They are aggressively clamping down music spaces, cyberstalking artists and musicians and introducing draconian laws and regulations.
Bobi Wine has been banned from appearing on stage since 2018, while Jimmy “Spire” Ssentongo has received numerous death threats.
Regardless of the challenges, music and art have the soft power and potential to push back authoritarianism and kleptocracy.