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CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE SINGER

1.0. INTRODUCTION

In his second undergraduate course handout of African Literature, Nkulu Mwasi

(2018) says that for having a clear understanding on any work of literature, it must be started by
knowing first the author and his country, shortly his background. That's why this chapter will be focused
on the history Lucky Dube's Country, South Africa before, during, and after colonization. Then it will
give a further approach on the Rastafarian movement by giving its ideologies. The origin and evolution
of reggae music will be shown further here. Finally, it will end with the biography of Lucky Dube and
his thematics exploited in different songs.

1.1. SURVEY ON SOUTH AFRICAN HISTORY

Political map of South Africa and the South African coat of arms

Beinart, W, (2001:15) presents South Africa, Officially the Republic of South

Africa (RSA), as the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by 2,798 kilometers
(1,739 mi) of coastline of Southern Africa stretching along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the
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north by the neighboring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast
by Mozambique and Swaziland (Eswatini); and it surrounds the kingdom of Lesotho.

Encyclopædia Britannica reveals that South Africa is the largest country in

Southern Africa and the 25th-largest country in the world by land area and, with close to 56 million
people in 2014, but 57.42 million in 2018, is the world's 24th-most populous nation. It is the
southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World or the Eastern Hemisphere. About 80 percent of
South Africans are of Sub-Saharan African ancestry, divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking
different African languages, nine of which have official status beside English and Afrikaans. South
Africa uses the following languages: Zulu (22.7%), Xhosa (16.0%), Afrikaans (13.5%), English (9.6%),
Northern Sotho (9.1%), Tswana (8.0%), Southern Sotho (7.6%), Tsonga (4.5%) Swazi (2.5%), Venda
(2.4%), and Southern Ndebele (2.1%). The remaining population consists of Africa’s largest
communities of European (White), Asian (Indian), and multiracial (Coloured) ancestry.

1.1.1. PRECOLONIAL SOUTH AFRICA

A. Early settlement

Encyclopaedia Britannica states that the first inhabitants of South Africa are
mainly Khoisan people which gathered Bochimen and Khoïkhoï in 4000 BC.

Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples in 500 AD, who were iron-using

agriculturists and herdsmen , were already present south of the Limpopo River (now the northern border
with Botswana and Zimbabwe) by the 4th or 5th century AD.

Woodhouse, B (1996:34) adds that Bantu people displaced, conquered and

absorbed the original Khoisan speakers, the Khoikhoi and San peoples. The Bantu slowly moved south.
The earliest ironworks in modern- day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050.
The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits
from the earlier Khoisan people. The Xhosa reached the Great Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape
Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples.

B. Portuguese contact

Domville-Fife, C.W. (1900:25) says precisely that, during the year 1487, the
Portuguese explorer Bartolommeo Dias led the first European voyage to land in southern Africa.

On 4 December, he landed at Walfisch Bay (now known as Walvis Bay in present-

day Namibia). This was south of the furthest point reached in 1485 by his predecessor, the Portuguese
navigator Diego Cão (Cape Cross, north of the bay). Dias continued down the western coast of southern
Africa. After 8 January 1488, prevented by storms from proceeding along the coast, he sailed out of
sight of land and passed the southernmost point of Africa without seeing it. He reached as far up the
eastern coast of Africa as, what he called, Rio do Infante, probably the present-day Groot River , in May
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1488, but on his return he saw the Cape, which he first named Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms).
His King, John II, renamed the point Cabo da Boa Esperança, or Cape of Good Hope, as it led to the
riches of the East Indies.

1.1.2. COLONIAL SOUTH AFRICA

A. Dutch colonization

Pakeman, SA, (1994:18) mentions that, by the early 17th century, Portugal's
maritime power was starting to decline, and English and Dutch merchants competed to oust Lisbon from
its lucrative monopoly on the spice trade.

Dutch interest was aroused after 1647, when two employees of the Dutch East
India Company (VOC) were shipwrecked there for several months. The sailors were able to survive by
obtaining fresh water and meat from the natives.

They also sowed vegetables in the fertile soil. Upon their return to Holland they
reported favorably on the Cape's potential as a "warehouse and garden" for provisions to stock passing
ships for long voyages.

In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape sea route, Jan van
Riebeeck established a victualing station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town,
on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. In time, the Cape become home to a large population of
"vrijlieden”, also known as "Vrijburgers" (free citizens), former Company employees who stayed in
Dutch territories overseas after serving their contracts.

The Eastward expansion of Dutch colonists ushered in a series of wars with the
southwesterly migrating Xhosa tribe, as both sides competed for the pastureland necessary to graze their
cattle near the Great Fish River. Vrijburgers who became independent farmers on the frontier were
known as Boers, with some adopting semi-nomadic lifestyles being denoted as Trekboers. The Boers
formed loose militias, which they termed commandos, and forged alliances with Khoisan groups to repel
Xhosa raids. Both sides launched bloody but inconclusive offensives, and sporadic violence, often
accompanied by livestock theft, remained common for several decades.

B. British colonization

African History Timeline online Explains that Great Britain occupied Cape Town
between 1795 and 1803 to prevent it from falling under the control of the French First Republic, which
had invaded the Low Countries.

Despite briefly returning to Dutch rule under the Batavian Republic in 1803, the
Cape was occupied again by the British in 1806. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, it was
formally ceded to Great Britain and became an integral part of the British Empire. British immigration
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to South Africa began around 1818, subsequently culminating in the arrival of the 1820 Settlers. The
new colonists were induced to settle for a variety of reasons, namely to increase the size of the European
workforce and to bolster frontier regions against Xhosa incursions.

In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Zulu people grew in power and
expanded their territory under their leader, Shaka. Shaka's warfare indirectly led to the Mfecane
("crushing"), in which 1,000,000 to 2,000,000 people were killed and the inland plateau was devastated
and depopulated in the early 1820s.

Knight, Ian (1989:4) explains that during the early 1800s, many Dutch settlers
departed from the Cape Colony, where they had been subjected to British control. They migrated to the
future Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal regions. The Boers founded the Boer Republics: the
South African Republic (now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West provinces) and the
Orange Free State (Free State).

The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior started the
Mineral Revolution and increased economic growth and immigration. This intensified British efforts to
gain control over the indigenous peoples. The struggle to control these important economic resources
was a factor in relations between Europeans and the indigenous population and also between the Boers
and the British.

The Anglo-zulu war started in 1879, and made the end of the Zulu kingdom though
the victory of Zulu people to the battle of Islandlwana.

But the Boers kingdom resisted to the British Colonization through the first Boers war (1800-1881) but
they've been completely defeated at the second Boers war (1899-1902).

C. Independence

Godley, Godfrey A, Welsh, William Thomson, and Hemsworth, H. D (1920:46)

state clearly that, within the country, anti-British policies among white South Africans focused on
independence. During the Dutch and British colonial years, racial segregation was mostly informal,
though some legislation was enacted to control the settlement and movement of native people, including
the Native Location Act of 1879 and the system of pass laws.

Eight years after the end of the Second Boer War and after four years of
negotiation, an act of the British Parliament (South Africa Act 1909) granted nominal independence,
while creating the Union of South Africa on 31 May 1910. The Union was a dominion that included the
former territories of the Cape and Natal colonies, as well as the republics of Orange Free State and
Transvaal.
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1.1.3. POST COLONIAL SOUTH AFRICA

Thompson, A (2001:20) gives the following facts which follow the African
autonomy until the independence.

In 1948, the National Party was elected to power. It strengthened the racial
segregation begun under Dutch and British colonial rule. The inferior race, the blacks did not have the
same rights as the whites. This law was allowed and led by a local government but was led by the Queen
Elizabeth.

In 1961, Queen Elizabeth was strip of the Queen of South Africa due to a
referendum in which white voters narrowly voted in favor thereof (the British- dominated Natal
province rallied against the issue). The republic was established, and the last local governor, Charles
Robert Stwart became the first state president.

Despite opposition both within and outside the country, the government legislated
for a continuation of Apartheid.

Apartheid became increasingly controversial, and several countries began to

boycott business with the South African government because of its racial policies. These measures were
later extended to international sanctions and the divestment of holdings by foreign investors.

End of apartheid

The first agreements by black and white political leaders in South Africa.
Ultimately, F. W. de Klerk opened bilateral discussions with Nelson Mandela in 1993 for a transition of
policies and government. Yet during the referendum in 1993, Apartheids was decided to be banished.

South Africa held its first universal elections in 1994, which the ANC won by an
overwhelming majority. It has been in power ever since. The country re-joined the Commonwealth of
Nations and became a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

In post-apartheid South Africa, unemployment has been extremely high as the

country has struggled with many changes. While many blacks have risen to middle or upper classes, the
overall unemployment rate of blacks worsened between 1994 and 2003 by official metrics, but declined
significantly using expanded definitions.

From 1998 to 2008, the country was led by THABO MBEKI who was replaced
unwillingly by Kgalema Motlanthe.

Jacob ZUMA, passed as a president in 2009 but he was obliged to present his
resignation in 2018 because of a matter of corruption. Then, today the country is led by Cyril
Ramaphoza who still continues ZUMA's mandate.
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1.2. RASTAFARIAN MOVEMENT

1.2.1. ORIGIN AND IDEOLOGY

Stephen A. King and Barry T. Bays in Online Popular Journal state clearly that the
Rastafarian movement or Rasta, is a social, spiritual movement which is started in Jamaica in 1930's.

Rastafari comes from "Ras" meaning “chief” and "Tafari" the family name of
Haïlé Selassie, meaning “Respected”, “Created” or “Feared.”

Jamaica was a British colony from 1670 up to 1962. During that period, colonizers
taught the Christian religion to slaves from Africa. While teaching them the religion, they came with
Jesus Christ as a white man.

With the abolition of slavery in 1883, the era of Ethiopianist interpretation of the
Holy Scriptures started.

Marcus Garvey is the precursor of the movement because of his declaration "Let
the God of Isaac and Jacob for the race which believes in him. But we black people, we believe in the
God of Ethiopia, the Eternal God... we will worship him through Ethiopian glasses". For that is
considered now as the first animator of the Rastafari movement.

Ever since, the Rastafari movement began, firstly in Jamaica by being based on the
Bible verse which says, “Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to
God." Psalms 68.31.

With the reign of the emperor of Ethiopia, Haïlé Selassié, the Rastafari movement
was ascended in Jamaica. In 1960's many Rastafari started playing and dancing Reggae, which is a kind
of rhythm originated from Calypso.

Rastas use to symbolize themselves with a flag of three colors (red, yellow, and
free). Those colors are taken from the flag of the imperial Ethiopia. And sometimes they put on it a lion
which symbolizes the "lion of the Jew tribe".

 Being referred to the Bible, especially Numbers 6.1-21:

 Rasta men don't shave their hair, which provokes dreadlocks.
 They don't eat meat (vegetarianism).
 They can't take any alcohol and any product of the vine.

Some practices are sacred for Rasta men such as the smoke of cannabis, according
to Rastafari doctrine, this herb enables a safe meditation. Rasta men must dance and respect Reggae
music.
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1.2.2. FAMOUS AFRO-CARIBEAN REGGAE SINGERS

The world most Reggae singer is Bob Marley, the Jamaican singer who died in
1981. Apart from him, in Jamaica and Caribbean there are also Jimmy Cliff, Peter Tosh, etc...There are
many Reggae singers but on the African continent we can mention singers such as: Ivoirians as Tiken
Jah Fakoly and Alpha Blondy, South Africans such as Lucky Dube, and Senzo who are mostly well-
known.

1.3. LUCKY DUBE

1.3.1. LUCKY DUBE’S LIFE

A. Early life

Luckydubemusic.com asserts Lucky Dube was born in Ermelo, formerly the

Eastern Transvaal, now Mpumalanga, on 3 August 1964. His parents separated before his birth and he
was raised by his mother who named him Lucky because she considered his birth fortunate after a
number of failed pregnancies.

Along with his two siblings, Thandi and Patrick, Dube spent much of his
childhood with his grandmother, Sarah, while his mother relocated to work. In a 1999 interview, he
described his grandmother as "his greatest love" who "multiplied many things to bring up this
responsible individual that I am today."

B. Beginning of his musical career

Wikipedia Online explains as a child Dube worked as a gardener but, as he

matured, realizing that he wasn't earning enough to feed his family, he began to attend school. There he
joined a choir and with some friends, formed his first musical group, called The Skyway Band. While at
school he discovered the Rastafari movement. At the age of 18 Dube joined his cousin's band, The Love
Brothers, playing Zulu pop music known as mbaqanga whilst funding his lifestyle by working for Hole
and Cooke as a security guard at the car auctions in Midrand. The band signed with Teal Record
Company, under Richard Siluma (Teal was later incorporated into Gallo Record Company). Though
Dube was still at school, the band recorded material in Johannesburg during his school holidays. The
resultant album was released under the name Lucky Dube and the Supersoul. The second album was
released soon afterwards, and this time Dube wrote some of the lyrics in addition to singing. It was
around this same time when he began to learn English.

C. Moving into reggae

Basildon, P (2007:5) asserts that on the release of his fifth album, Dave Segal
(who became Dube's sound engineer) encouraged him to drop the "Supersoul" element of the name. All
subsequent albums were recorded as Lucky Dube. At this time Dube began to note fans were responding
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positively to some reggae songs he played during live concerts. Drawing inspiration from Jimmy Cliff
and Peter Tosh, he felt the socio-political messages associated with Jamaican reggae were relevant to a
South African audience in an institutionally racist society.

He decided to try the new musical genre and in 1984, released the mini album
Rastas Never Die. The record sold poorly around 4000 units in comparison to the 30,000 units his
mbaqanga records would sell. Keen to suppress anti- apartheid activism, the apartheid regime banned
the album in 1985, because of its critical lyrics, for instance in the song "War and Crime". However, he
was not discouraged and continued to perform the reggae tracks live and wrote and produced a second
reggae album. Think About The Children (1985). It achieved platinum sales status and established Dube
as a popular reggae artist in South Africa, in addition to attracting attention outside his homeland.

D. Lucky Dube's Death

On 18 October 2007, Lucky Dube was killed in the Johannesburg suburb of

Rosettenville shortly after dropping two of his seven children off at their uncle's house. Dube was
driving his Chrysler 300C, which the assailants were after. Police reports suggest he was shot dead by
carjackers who did not recognize him and believed that he was Nigerian. Five men were arrested in
connection with the murder; three were tried and found guilty on 31 March 2009. Two of the men
attempted to escape and were caught. The men were sentenced to life in prison.

1.3.2. LUCKY DUBE'S WORKS

Luckydubemusic.com asserts that here is the discography of Lucky Dube:

Mbaqanga

Mbaqanga was a musical group which gathered Lucky Dube’s and his brothers.
They used to sing in Zulu, in the ghetto of Soweto. They produced the following albums:

 Lengane Ngeyethu (1981),

 Kudala Ngikuncenga (1982),
 Kukuwe(1983),
 Abathakathi(1984),
 Ngikwethembe Na? (1985),
 Umadakeni (1987).

Afrikaans

When Dube used to go to Cape Town, he used to speak in Afrikaans. From that,
he produced some works in Afrikaans namely:

 Kaapse Dans "Cape Dance" (1986)

 Help My Krap "Help Me Scratch"(1986)
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Reggae

After moving to Reggae, Lucky Dube produced fourteen albums namely:

 Rastas Never Dies (1984)
 Think About the Children (1985),
 Slave (1987),
 Together As One (1988),
 Prisoner (1989),
 Captured Live (1990),
 House of Exile (1991),
 Victims (1993),
 Trinity (1995),
 Taxi man (1997),
 The way It Is (1999),
 Soul Taker (2001),
 The Other Side (2003),
 Respect (2006).

Famous Live Concerts and compilation

During his life, Dube performed different concerts on different continents. Here
are the major concerts performed by Lucky Dube taken as shows or compilated.

 Serious Reggae Business (1996),

 Live in Jamaica (2000),
 The Rough Guide To Lucky Dube (2001),
 Lucky Dube Live in Uganda (2003),
 Retrospective (2008),: postume compilation
 The Ultimate Lucky Dube (2011): postume compilation
 Lucky Dube meets Uganda's Buka Buka (2003),
 Lucky Dube meets Rwanda's souve souve ( 2004)
 The Times We've Shared (2017): Postume compilation

1.3.3. LUCKY DUBE'S THEMATICS AND PHILOSOPHY

a. Love and admiration for women

Lucky Dube always expressed love and admiration towards women. He sang
many times about love. He really shows admiration for women as in I've Got you Babe, Never leave
you, Put a Little Love in my World, The One, Romeo, Lovers in a Dangerous Time, etc...
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b. Family Problems and Divorce

He showed up some real familial problems, divorce and break up as in Choose

your Friends, Cool Down, Divorce Party, Mama (It is not Easy), Love me the Way I am, Release me,
My Brother My Enemy, etc...

c. Racism and Apartheid

Apartheid is a disaster which affected the South African country. Black Used to
fight to have their rights as whites people. In his song, Lucky Dube's showed that he was struggling for
the end of Apartheid. He mentioned Apartheid in songs such as: Together as One, Group Area's Acts;
Different Colours, One People, Trinity, etc...

d. Puritanism

Lucky has always been against beer and drugs. In his song "Slave", he explains
clearly that liquor and beer make people slaves. Some people lose their respect and dignity because of
beer. He says also that beer can provoke violence, but it doesn’t end it. In "Up with Hope, Down with
Dope", he says clearly that drugs and liquor do not help people to go forward, but they decrease them.

e. Education and care for children

He talked about education, and care of children in songs such as Think about the
Children (Born to Suffer), Prisoner, Johnny, Good Girl, Hold On, My Son, etc... He says in Prisoner that
"Education is the key."

f. Engaged singings

He criticizes demagogy and other political problems in the society in Guns and
Roses, That's the way it is, Soldier, Fugitive, Freedom, Group Areas Acts, House of Exile, Crazy World,
etc...

g. Social injustice

Supported by the racial segregation, injustice was the principal matter which
existed when White people were taking the power. Victims, Don't Cry and Respect, he mentioned the
social injustice.
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h. Faith and moral

Dube showed also his faith and beliefs towards Jah and the Rastafari movement
in Jah Save Us, Soul Taker, I've got Jah, etc...He touched other issues concerning morality as in Truth in
the World, Shut Up, Ding Ding, The Hand that Giveth, etc...

i. Culture Uprising and Rastafari Principles

Lucky Dube, used to defend his culture as in Shembe is the Way, Teach the
World, Back to my Roots, Nobody Can Stop Reggae, Reggae Business, etc...

1.4. PARTIAL CONCLUSION

Lucky Dube is a South African reggae singer. He is the most popular singer of
Reggae music in Africa and South Africa. He is a believer of the Rastafari movement which is a social
and spiritual movement based on the Ethiopian history, a country free from Colonization. Ethiopian
king, Haile Selassie claimed black people to be free people despite slavery. Since Ethiopia has never
been colonized, it is regarded by all Rastafari followers of the Rasta movement, as a symbol of freedom,
wisdom, and paradise.

It can be mentioned that the Rasta men do not aim at doping and taking drugs. Lucky Dube
demonstrated it with some messages in some of his songs.

Let's move to the next part which will look at the generality on poetry and lyric songs which will give us
a clear way to analyze literarily lyrics of "Teach the World" by Lucky Dube taken From "Soul Taker"
(2001).