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Politics In Zimbabwe Has A New Soundtrack

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Music and politics have always been intertwined, whether the song is "Yankee Doodle" or "A Change Is Gonna Come." This week, I've been reporting on a political transformation 1 in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe was forced from office in November. He had ruled as an autocrat 2 for decades. On July 30, Zimbabwe will have an election, perhaps the first free and fair one in decades. So this is a rare moment of openness and free expression, and politics in Zimbabwe has a soundtrack, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ZIMBABWE")

BOB MARLEY: (Singing) Natty 3 dread 4 it in a...

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Singing) Zimbabwe.

MARLEY: (Singing) Set it up in...

SHAPIRO: Back when the country was still known as Rhodesia, black nationalists here fought a bloody 5 war to overthrow 6 white minority rule. And in 1980, Zimbabwe became an independent country where every adult citizen could cast a ballot 7. In the song "Zimbabwe" Bob Marley sang, every man got a right to decide his own destiny.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ZIMBABWE")

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Singing) We going to fight.

MARLEY: (Singing) We's going to fight.

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #1: (Singing) We going to fight.

MARLEY: (Singing) Fight for our rights.

SHAPIRO: Zimbabwean artist Thomas Mapfumo sang about the fight for independence. The title of this song translates to "Mothers Send Your Children To War."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TUMIRA VANA KUHONDO")

THOMAS MAPFUMO: (Singing in foreign language).

UNIDENTIFIED SINGERS #2: (Singing in foreign language).

SHAPIRO: And a Zimbabwean psychedelic rock band called Wells Fargo had a big hit with this song, "Watch Out!"

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATCH OUT!")

WELLS FARGO: (Singing) Watch out. Big storm is coming. There's thunder and lightning. You better hold on.

EBBA CHITAMBO: We started being politically conscience, and we tried to change our music to go with the times, like, motivate the people.

(SOUNDBITE OF WELLS FARGO SONG, "WATCH OUT!")

SHAPIRO: Today, Ebba Chitambo is 66 years old. When he was in his 20s and his country was at war, he fought with music. Ebba was the co-founder and drummer of Wells Fargo.

(SOUNDBITE OF WELLS FARGO SONG, "WATCH OUT!")

SHAPIRO: He says guerilla independence fighters he used to listen to this song in the bush. It made the band famous and also got them in a lot of trouble.

CHITAMBO: The first version we recorded was banned from radio.

SHAPIRO: Really?

CHITAMBO: Yeah. But the people liked it 'cause we used to play it live. And we had to sit down and change the lyrics 8 to, like, soften 9 them up a bit but still with the same meaning.

SHAPIRO: What were the words to "Watch Out!" before you changed them and after?

CHITAMBO: The chorus was straight and direct. Watch out; freedom is coming. So police came to one of our gigs and knocked us around. We had to change to, watch out; big storm is coming.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATCH OUT!")

WELLS FARGO: (Singing) Watch out. Big storm is coming. There's thunder and lightning. You better...

SHAPIRO: Big storm was enough to keep the police away...

CHITAMBO: Yes, it was very, very...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter) ...Even if everybody knew that the big storm was freedom.

CHITAMBO: Yeah.

(LAUGHTER)

SHAPIRO: And so if you perform today, what will you sing?

CHITAMBO: Big storm is coming.

SHAPIRO: He hasn't sung freedom in so long. He just got used to it the other way. The joy of a free Zimbabwe faded when the new president, Robert Mugabe, cracked down on his opponents. The musicians who had sung songs of freedom realize that they were living under a different kind of oppression.

CHITAMBO: (Unintelligible).

SHAPIRO: When I met Ebba Chitambo a few weeks ago in the city of Bulawayo, his new band was getting ready to play a Friday night gig at a hotel bar. This group is called Friends Band. They're not famous like Wells Fargo. They mostly play covers. And most of the other musicians are about 40 years younger than Ebba. They've only ever known a Zimbabwe that was ruled by Robert Mugabe. The 27-year-old singer Zinzile Majola says when Mugabe left, it felt like a window opening.

ZINZILE MAJOLA: Actually gave us, you know, more confidence that at least maybe things will change from now on, you know, from the way they were, they used to be.

SHAPIRO: Bassist David Mabhena is the youngest in the band. He's 23. This is the first election he will ever vote in.

DAVID MABHENA: I feel like it's not my time to make a change by going and voting.

SHAPIRO: Ebba, when you hear these young people in their 20s talk, does it remind you of how you felt?

CHITAMBO: It does. It does a lot. And listening to the ideas and all that reminds me of days way back in time.

SHAPIRO: When we gathered the band around the microphones, the younger ones had some questions for Ebba. And I got the impression they hadn't really asked him about his past before.

MABHENA: So the advice - what advice would you give to us? Should we take the things that are happening around and then record songs so that it will touch the people's hearts?

CHITAMBO: Yeah, it's the reality we're dealing 10 with...

MABHENA: OK.

CHITAMBO: ...Unless if you want write, kiss me; kiss me, baby; what; what, which I know you don't want.

MABHENA: OK.

CHITAMBO: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: What would you write a song about if you were going to write about what's happening now?

MABHENA: Believing for a better Zimbabwe after the elections. I'm 23 years old now. But when I grew up, I had people promising 11 us that things would change. But things could go from bad to worse. So a song I'll write about is a song believing that change is near, and there is hope.

(LAUGHTER, CROSSTALK)

SHAPIRO: Soon it was time for Friends Band to get ready for their set at the pub in the Cresta Churchill Hotel. The crowd trickled 12 in. People ordered beers. Soon everyone was dancing.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SHAPIRO: And after about five songs, the singer handed over lead vocal 13 duties to the white-haired drummer in the back.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SHAPIRO: With a big grin, the man who has sung his way through two transformations 14 in Zimbabwe sang these lyrics.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATCH OUT!")

CHITAMBO: (Singing) Watch out. Freedom is coming. There's thunder and lightning.

SHAPIRO: Watch out. Freedom's coming.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WATCH OUT!")

CHITAMBO: (Singing) You better hold on.