A Reggae Legend Lost To Bullets (1)

By TONY EKE

October 18, 2024 marked the 17th year of Lucky Dube’s death. He was the foremost reggae musician in Africa. He also made impact in other parts of the world, including the Caribbean Island where he harvested acclamation for his talent as captured in his mellifluous voice, distinct rhythmic beats, and timeless messages. He was quite good, so creative, and very different from the rest.
As a reggae lover and his fan, Dube’s passing was more of a personal loss to me even though we did not know each other. I still remember that BBC Newsbreak which indeed broke my heart and made me teary for few hours of that ill-fated day.
Below is a tribute I wrote a week after his death in 2007 in appreciation of his artistry.
Excerpts:

The death of Reggae musician, Lucky Dube, on October 18, 2007, came as a shock to millions of people all over the world. A large number of reggae lovers felt like people whom poisonous arrows had been shot at. In life, we still mourn an individual who dies after a protracted illness, not to talk of a young man who was hale and hearty before gunmen gleefully sent him to an early reunion with his forefathers.
It is ironical that Dube who championed the cause of love, peace, and togetherness, was cut down by a volley of bullets fired by a few persons, who perhaps were not knowledgeable about his place in the South Africa society. If they knew who Dube was, and his critical role in the emancipation of the oppressed Black population, they would probably reserve their bullets for another day and, perhaps, for another person.

It seemed Dube foresaw his tragic death, however. He was probably clairvoyant like psychic individuals. Or what do these lyrics in a 2003 track titled “Crime & Corruption” represent in your view? “Do you ever worry about leaving home/Coming back in a coffin / With the bullets through your head.” Foreboding! That violent crimes are almost a daily feature of Johannesburg in particular and South Africa in general, is a sad commentary on the state of affairs in the country, despite the abolition of Apartheid in 1994, which, of course, nurtured the society in violence for decades.

It was more devastating to those who have developed a passion for his music, as though it was a tonic needed for reinvigorating their daily drudgery. Dube led a life of greatness buoyed by didactic songs, a mellifluous voice, peculiar reggae beats and uncommon concern for humanity. Despite his untimely return to his roots , Dube’s career of nearly two- and-a- half decades is worthy of celebration. After all, he was one of the greatest Roots Reggae artistes after the legendary Bob Marley whose genius might have inspired him.

Paths to envisioned progress

The emergence of Dube on the reggae scene illuminates Nature’s peculiar capacity to create new possibilities even from the darkest environment or recreate a newer vision of a phenomenon that once existed for accentuating the quests of mankind. It’s Nature that made him to dump the traditional Zulu Mbaqanga music in which he had recorded a few albums for reggae in 1985, which was then yearning for newer voices following the death of Bob Marley four years earlier. The subsequent death of Peter Tosh in 1987 doubled the grief of roots reggae lovers, especially those who appreciated the strands of criticisms and denunciations of the neo-colonial attitude of western nations towards Africa in the lyrical deliveries of the late Jamaican maestros. Dube ably filled the vacuum and in less than a decade, his popularity was shot beyond the boundaries of Africa hence he received universal acclaim.

Like an unforeseen possibility, none of the bookmakers in the reggae confines of Kingston, Jamaica, ever predicted the likelihood of one of the successors of Bob Marley rising from Africa. At best, any star bent on steeping into Marley’s big shoes would have emerged from Jamaica, which is home to Reggae as Trinidad and Tobago is to calypso.

Probably taking a cue from other legends before him, he seized the opportunity thrown at him by circumstance to stamp his virtuosity as a recording artiste. The presence of Alpha Blondy, a reggae star from Ivory Coast who had a rare privilege of recording an album “Jerusalem” with the “Wailers” in Kingston, Jamaica-based Toff Gong Studios in 1985, did not pose a threat to him. Similarly, the rise of Nigeria’s Majek Fashek in 1988 was hardly an encumbrance to Dube’s walk to stardom. Despite the appreciation of Majek’s debut and follow-up albums on account of his voice, unarguably sonorous and devoid of mother tongue interference, he could not harness his potential, partly due to his modification to the standard reggae beats and unnecessary sojourn to the United States. Retrospectively, his skills at song writing, stagecraft, and overall appreciation marked Majek out as the most gifted of all reggae musicians that stormed the Nigerian music scene in the late 1980s. But typical of the stultifying Nigerian environment, it did not take a long time before his promising star was dimmed.

All Dube did was to nurture his talent after discovering what Nature had deposited in him. He was lucky because not every man could understand the labyrinthine course of exploring an individual’s talent. It was his “Slave” album (1987) that first conveyed Dube’s rich voice to the ears of reggae lovers who marveled at the talent of such an emerging star, though a preponderance of the audience were not too sure of his origin. Some felt he was Jamaican owing to the coolness of his voice so suitable for roots reggae. Before him were legendary singers such as Cocoa Tea, Lucky Luciano, Gregory Isaacs, Frederick Macgregor, Beres Hammond, Joseph Hills of Culture, Peter Tosh among others who preferred roots reggae to raga, a form defined by segue lyrics chosen by upcoming Jamaican musicians, both at home and in the Diaspora since the late 1980s.

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The thought of Dube having his roots in South Africa was very remote since that country had not produced a reggae artiste with profound artistic vision located within the general aspirations of the much-oppressed Black majority. What we had from that enclave was a beauteous version of Mbaqanga songs popularized by a generation led by Yvonne Chaka Chaka, firstly in the 1980s and, later, by Brenda Fasie in the early1990s. Even though Dube’s songs are vitriolic of human degradation in then South Africa, it was not peculiar to him.
In retrospect, the 1980s was a decade of profuse musical creativity stimulated by the socio- political upheaval and discontent in South Africa. Ironically, the notoriety of Apartheid yielded beneficial gains for artistes by enriching their compositional skills. Indeed, it was sheer portrayal of blurred vision of an artiste, whether established or burgeoning, especially in the sub-Sahara Africa and parts of the Caribbean Island countries to release an album without dedicating a song advocating for the release of Nelson Mandela, who was the symbol of resilience and resistance of the subjugated Black majority. It was many a call that reached the scale of decibels, thus becoming the anthem of creativity in performing arts as it had earlier provided potent creative stimuli for literary artists in South Africa such as Alex la Guma, Ezekiel Mphalele, Oswald Mtshali, Peter Abrahams, Dennis Brutus, amongst others.
Once the nationality of Dube was established, it became much easier to understand why he chose reggae as a weapon for fighting a system which debilitated his compatriots. He deployed his skills to good use, crusading in the process for a free South Africa where “every man would be equal in the eyes on the law.” It is a testament to the search for the truth as a measure of artistic engagement buoyed by altruistic fervor.

His music

Dube’s music is so didactic and symbolic that it is raised above the ordinariness of songs such as the types some misfits parading themselves as musicians have bombarded our ears within the past few years in Nigeria with neither reason nor rhyme, owing to their cacophonous beats and pedestrian lyrics. He has special messages that are timeless. It might not be hyperbolic to equate the diversity of his songs and their utilitarian values with the compendium of eternal truth as represented by the Holy Bible. Imagine that songs Dube recorded two decades ago still sound fresh like wine enriched by the length of preservation.

To be continued next week

TONY EKE is based in Asaba, Delta State capital, can be reached via [email protected] or on 08035504896 (text only)