Chaka Chaka says young musos can shine more spotlight on serious issues

Young musicians have become complacent with everyone chasing money and wanting to be seen while societal issues take a back seat.

This is the view of music icon and singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka as she reflected on the role artists played to bring about change before and after the dawn of democratic SA.

Speaking to Sowetan this week ahead of Freedom Day tomorrow, Chaka Chaka said although young artists have broken new boundaries in terms of taking genres like amapiano to a global world, they can do more to bring a spotlight to some of the challenges that ordinary South Africans go through daily. 

"I accept that music has taken a different shape with the likes of amapiano getting global recognition, something that we strived for in our time. Artists nowadays sing about what they see, like issues of mental illnesses and other frivolous things like BBL (Brazilian butt lift).

"There is a lot of peer pressure and the need to conform but I think they can do more to cast a spotlight on other serious things like violence against women – a daily reality for most women in this country," said Chaka Chaka. 

The Mqomboti hitmaker was among a group of musicians who were brought together by music producer Chicco Twala in the early 1990s when the turf wars between the ANC and IFP raged through the hostels and townships in Gauteng and KZN. The group, which featured the likes of Brenda Fassie, Tshepo Tshola and Soul Brothers among others, penned and recorded the song Peace in our Land at Downtown Studios in the Joburg CBD. 

The song, with its haunting chorus, called for unity and politicians to rise up and end the bloodshed.

"At the time, we had just had the Boipatong massacre and there was this raging violence in our townships. It was black-on-black violence orchestrated by other forces in the background. We [musicians] cared and had empathy because we did not understand why we could not walk freely to the East Rand where the ANC and IFP were fighting each other," said Chaka Chaka.

Peace in our Land came out a few years after the 1985 release of We are the World, a Quincy Jones production featuring various American musicians who were big at the time. The song, which  cast a spotlight on poverty and violence in Africa, became a worldwide symbol of peace. For the next coming years, more social-cohesion driven collaborations between artists would come and capture the mood and feelings of the audience. 

"But those days are over now. Collaborations have dwindled and everyone is fighting for themselves and the few collaborations we see are commercially driven," said Chaka Chaka.

On what freedom means to her, Chaka Chaka feels that South Africans had been robbed of an opportunity for a better life for all. 

"In 1994 we all thought politicians would prioritise us, the people. But they have proven themselves to be about having deep pockets, big houses with solar and taking their kids to private schools while the rest of the people suffer," she said.

"Freedom to me is about being able to go to any health facility and not worry about affordability. It's about me taking my child to any school – whether private or government – and know that they will get a good education without me having deep pockets.

"Freedom is about my husband driving at night without worrying about being hijacked.  Most importantly, freedom is about my ability to pay for services that I get from the state," said Chaka Chaka.