Covid-19 could do worse with Gigs

Amongst several things associated with politics, death makes the list. Darkness, disease, poverty and misery are the other associates of politics. Not surprising, the danger posed by Covid-19 to our politicians bears nothing.

Whereas for music, most occasions that it will be associated with death is when people gather for funeral rituals and of course dirges, politics has a different story. Otherwise music is associated with happiness in its fullness, exuberance, verve and the goodies are endless.

This is why the decision by the country’s musicians to defy the imposed restrictions and announce that they will resume live shows, is a bit confusing to me.

Yes, I know, the musical artists are hardest hit, but it is unbelievable for them to say they have made this decision in step with the actions by politicians who are holding rallies where more than 100 people gather.

They argue that this is a direct breach of government recommendation as a preventative measure against Covid-19 spread.

Chairperson of the group Wendy Harawa told journalists in Lilongwe last Tuesday that the musicians are simply following the example that their leaders have shown. Now this is trying to pull wool over our eyes because we know this is not their inspiration.

There inspiration is to support their livelihoods which is under threat ever since the ban was imposed. Where as in other countries like in South Africa, Government availed resources to cushion their misery in these times.

The announcement from musicians comes a few weeks after I had pleaded with Government to come to the rescue of the artists.

Let me go back to what I had written:

There is too much politics in the manner that this issue is being managed. I opined last time that it has been overtaken by political buffoonery where the Health Minister Jappie Mhango, ICT Minister Mark Botomani and Homeland Security Minister Nicholas Dausi were thinking it was a political show-off oral treatise that leaves Malawians with more questions than answers.

Before President Peter Mutharika dismantled it, there was to much political clowning where a lot of money went into the ministers pockets in form of allowances not to mention their efforts to bribe the Malawi Defence Force and the Malawi Police with money within the very political stratagem clearly exposing ulterior motives other than effecting the cause to a just fight against the pandemic, leaving out the most important aspects of the whole scheme against Covid-19.

I said then that this was why musical artists were left out. I said then of the importance to embarking on a mission to support several musicians to produce songs that will carry Coronavirus messages, if there were no free resources to help them.

With music I was of the view that if the ministry of sports and culture, looked after the music artists, it would really ensure that it also plays a role in the fight against Coronavirus by ensuring that it avails resources that can be used to produce audio and video pieces that can help in this war against Covid-19.

The good thing is that the fact that one of the crucial messages is encouraging people to stay at home, what it means is that if they are not glued to their radios then their eyes cannot be taken off their screens. What a better way of encouraging them to listen and watch artists they are familiar with.

If these Government officials have a hindsight in being proactive, they would by now, have crammed the airwaves with such music that even calling for a lockdown would have been a stroll in the park.

But Government, noticeably did not take heed and now the musicians have come out. Where I am not agreeing with them is making announcement without telling us about the ways in which the shows would not be a breeding ground for further spread of the virus.

I know the good music industry has been dominated by politicians, but I only hope they will use their music brain and not political brain to decide to restart live performances.