Hegemonising Zimbabwe? The Polity of Mbare Chimurenga Lyrics in Perpetuating Mugabe’s and ZANU-PF’s Rule

ABSTRACT The role played by music as “popular culture” in political campaigning and in the perpetuation and sustenance of political hegemonies is a very significant one. Music and its accompaniment of dance is a common and popular channel through which political hegemonies are (re)constructed, (re)negotiated and perpetuated. In Zimbabwe the two largest political parties (ZANU-PF and MDC-T) both “own” musical ensembles who have been constantly and consistently producing political party specific lyrics as part of the utilisation of music as popular culture in the broader political discourse of electioneering and election campaigning. Musical lyrics exude attempts at the (re)construction and (re)negotiation of political meaning and reality and by extension the (re)negotiation and (re)configuration of power relations and dynamics. Selected lyrics from the ZANU-PF musical ensemble, Mbare Chimurenga Choir, are examined through the discourse linguistic theory of Appraisal. This is done by examining how the proliferation of linguistic resources that espouse politically and ideologically embedded positive attitudinal resources exhibit a perpetuation of Robert Mugabe’s rule, legacy and hegemony and by extension, that of ZANU-PF. While the analysis is largely couched within Appraisal Theory, the study also draws insights from Gramscian hegemony studies as well as Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The study observes and discusses, as the context for analysis of the discourse linguistic structure of the lyrics, the political environment prevailing in Zimbabwe during the period in which analysed songs were produced. Language (the lyrics), is in this regard perceived of as a superstructural semiotic tool through which hegemonies are (re)constructed, (re)negotiated and sustained.