A Sad Farewell - Lucky Dube
DemonSpawn
Date:
19/10/2007
And so amidst the Rugby World Cup mania, the frantic, hysterical hope that South Africa might just have a small chance in hell of winning the first Cup in over a decade, music lovers with any decent taste, all over the country, have been sobered by the murder of one Lucky Dube, the South Africa Grandfather of Reggae.
And of all the bio's and reports and other miscellaneous texts announcing his death, I think the most poignant and socially significant comment was made by Eugene Mthethwa, writer for the Mail & Guardian and Dube's keyboard player for many years, in his recent article, "Honouring Lucky Dube".
"It is a pity, though, that we are living in a country that sees no value in someone until he is dead and gone. Only then you will hear stories about that person that you never heard while he was still alive.
Lucky was one of the artists that this country did not honour accordingly, but buried him while he was still alive. He was more appreciated outside South Africa than in his own country. During apartheid, when he was singing against the system, he got much media coverage and love from the South African people, including the state itself, but post-1994 when we achieved the freedom he was fighting for, he never got the love he deserved, even from our state."
One of South Africa's most brilliant, prolific and socially active musicians, Lucky Dube was an influence in lives across the race and class barrier during the apartheid era. Post-1994, he continued to sing about the state of the country, making an important and much-ignored commentary on the path that this country's leadership and Youth were taking.
Although I did not know Lucky personally, as did Mthethwa, I am certain that the latter would agree with me in the assessment that Lucky probably died feeling only bitter disappointment in those people that he had spent most of his life and career trying to liberate. And I really couldn't blame him if he did.
When squabbles over how many black players are included in our rugby team take precedence over the need for a more practical approach to criminal activity, it can only follow that we will lose many of our national treasures, such as Dube to the issue (or elephant in the corner) that is being studiously ignored by most of our cabinet ministers.
Hopefully, Lucky's death will in some way serve to galvanise our country's leaders into action, so that they stop bickering over rugby quotas, and acknowledge that we have a serious crime problem that needs some immediate attention.
One would hope that Madiba doesn't have to meet the same fate as Lucky Dube in order for the ostriches in charge to pluck their heads out of the sand!
A sad and fond farewell to you, Mbuyazi, and rest in the knowledge that your name and your deeds will live on in our hearts, and the hearts of those yet to come.
