Reggae music of Jamaica, Harriet Anena and Quiin Abenakyo of Uganda

It is very delightful news, hearing that the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) has inscribed the Reggae music of Jamaica on the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

I first heard Reggae music from the cassette tapes of my elder brothers, Norman Dumba Sengoba and Douglas Kuleekana Sengoba.
Together with their buddies Roger Wamara, Raymond Byabazaire and very many others shared all genres of music, but it was Reggae music which seemed to excite and animate them the most.

At that time, Idi Amin had faded away like the setting sun and more darkness of confusion and tension with bloodletting plus insecurity of the Unla administration set in. The controversial ascent of president Apollo Milton Obote’s second coming followed.

With the rebels or bandits as Obote called them, pilling pressure on his regime, Obote’s security agents made matters worse with Panda Gari. Many of the teenagers, including Norman and Douglas, were picked up, bundled on trucks for screening at Nakivubo stadium.

I tell this story because the young people of that era faced so much tension that one suspects they found refuge and identity in this music. It had very strong messages on struggle, rebellion and hope that these young people were going through. They particularly loved Coming in from the Cold, with the lines ‘…why do you look so sad and forsaken, when one door is closed don’t you know, the other is open…’ Then Zimbabwe, Crazy Bald Heads, Could You Be loved, Redemption Songs, I Shot the Sherriff, etc.

At the peak of Bob Marley’s musical journey in the early 80s with his dreadlocks, for me as a child, it was very fascinating seeing these teenagers talk glowingly about Marley and try out the Reggae dance.
As I grew, I listened to this music with more attention and understood how liberating it is. Reggae music is the most relevant genre of music and it can never die because unlike the happy-go lucky music that is dedicated to love and sex, Reggae addresses the daily grind of unfairness, oppression, inequality, injustice, and the need to rebel against the ‘down presser.’

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Closer home, there was another very inspiring story. In the world of literature, Uganda’s very own Harriet Anena, a rather diminutive lady, wrote her way into the great big books of history.

By the way, this is the Anena whose short story Dancing with Ma was long listed for the 2018 Commonwealth Short Story Prize.
This time round, Anena with her 2015 poetry collection, A Nation in Labour, was the joint winner of the Wole Soyinka Prize for Literature, together with Prof Tanure Ojaide with his Songs of My Self. This prize is dedicated to Soyinka, (84) a renowned author, poet and playwright, (The Lion and the Jewel, Kongi’s Harvest, You Must Set Forth At Dawn), who was the first African to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature (in 1986.)

The ward comes along with $10,000 (about Shs37m) prize money.
It is worth noting that Anena and Ojaide’s works were picked from 110 submissions spread over 11 nations.
I used to sit in the KFM studio once every week for the Friday Panel of Journalists show. Anena would drop in once in a while. I remember her very humble demeanour toped up by her long dark straight natural hair. But when she spoke, hers was always a strong opinion delivered in a very calm and collected manner.

So when she wrote her award-winning collection, I called to congratulate her and also support her by buying a copy.
Anena amused me when she directed me to an editor at the Daily Monitor with whom she would leave the copy. She emphatically told me, ‘it costs Shs20,000, please leave the money with him when you pick the book!

On a light note in my mind, I said, ‘now this one is a wise woman who understands this society –and would be qualified to comment on it. She knows Ugandans very well. They will ‘support’ a friend by drinking their bar to the ground and move on, leaving them penniless. So cash on delivery is always the safety pin.
Congratulations Harriet Anena. This is a great achievement.

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We shall not forget Quiin Abenakyo, the Ugandan beauty queen from Busoga. Together with Brenda Nanyonjo, the holder of the Miss Uganda franchise, she beat all odds (majorly lack of funds) and made it all the way to Miss World competitions and became Miss World Africa and a runner up to Miss World. I have seen videos of her speaking very eloquently and ingeniously too. It is very impressive.

I must confess I did not follow these things until she got to the very top with people sending Whatsapp messages urging me to vote for her.

I didn’t do so because it is not really my thing, but there we are. Many rejoicing are part of the chorus that dismisses beauty contests as ‘immoral’ and ‘demeaning to women.’ Now she is an inspiration to the girl child.
Success, they say, has a hundred fathers, failure is an orphan. Abenakyo is now our own and we are proud of her and congratulate her for breaking very many records in the process.

Mr Sengoba is a commentator on political and social issues. [email protected].
Twitter:@nsengoba