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COVID-19 and the Ugandan Presidential Election: Contesting Lockdown Authority in Popular Songs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2022

David G. Pier Open the ORCID record for David G. Pier [Opens in a new window]  and
Micheal Mutagubya
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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic struck when Uganda was in the middle of an acrimonious campaign season, in which longstanding president Yoweri Museveni was being challenged by Bobi Wine, a reggae singer turned politician. When Museveni imposed a strict lockdown, musicians sympathetic to Wine responded with songs about COVID-19 that challenged the government’s short-term, biopolitical demarcation of the national emergency. Pier and Mutagubya interpret a selection of Ugandan COVID-19 pop songs from 2020, considering in musical-historical perspective their various strategies for re-narrating the health crisis.

Résumé

Résumé

La pandémie de COVID-19 a frappé alors que l’Ouganda était au milieu d’une saison de campagne acrimonieuse, au cours de laquelle le président de longue date Yoweri Museveni était défié par Bobi Wine, un chanteur de reggae devenu politicien. Lorsque Museveni a imposé un confinement strict, entravant l’opposition, les musiciens sympathisants de Wine ont répondu avec des chansons sur la COVID-19 qui remettaient en question la démarcation biopolitique à court terme de l’urgence nationale par le gouvernement. Pier et Mutagubya interprètent une sélection de chansons pop ougandaises COVID-19 de 2020 et considèrent au travers de l’histoire de la musique leurs diverses stratégies pour une nouvelle narration de la crise sanitaire.

Resumo

Resumo

A pandemia de COVID-19 eclodiu quando o Uganda se encontrava num período de campanha eleitoral aguerrida, no qual o presidente Yoweri Museveni, há muito no poder, foi desafiado por Bobi Wine, um cantor de reggae que se tornou político. Quando Museveni impôs medidas rígidas de confinamento, assim enfraquecendo a oposição, os músicos simpatizantes de Wine reagiram com canções acerca da COVID-19 que punham em causa a abordagem biopolítica e de curto prazo que o governo adotara para a situação de emergência nacional. Pier e Mutagubya selecionam um conjunto de canções pop ugandesas de 2020 sobre a COVID-19 e analisam, numa perspetiva histórico-musical, as suas várias estratégias para propor narrativas alternativas da crise sanitária.

Keywords

COVID-19 pandemicUgandaYoweri MuseveniBobi Winemusicdigital mediaafrobeatskadongo kamu
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 66 , Issue 1 , March 2023 , pp. 149 - 175
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

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