Obama has a world of vocal supporters
From Africa to Caribbean they sing his praises
From the start of his unlikely presidential campaign, Senator Barack Obama has insisted that he is cobbling together a new kind of coalition - one not indebted to past Democratic majorities. It is unlikely, though, that Obama or his campaign staff had Extra Golden, the Mighty Sparrow, or Cocoa Tea in mind when drafting his electoral strategy.
With an American president whose roots extend across the globe a distinct possibility, a wave of musicians from around the world are celebrating Barack Obama in song, drawing on their own musical traditions to honor and support their presidential candidate of choice. Just call it Obama-beat.
As it turns out, there is a long history of connection between music and politics in those two hotbeds of world music, the Caribbean and sub-Saharan Africa. Popular musicians are often finagled into vocally supporting political candidates by appearing at rallies, playing concerts, and recording theme songs.
In countries from Sierra Leone to Nigeria to Jamaica, musicians have played a conflicted role in politics: sometimes standing shoulder to shoulder with political figures, sometimes outspokenly opposed, and always recruited, cajoled, and prodded for their support. In conflict-ridden and politically corrupt societies like Sierra Leone's, or Kenya's, musicians often have the cachet, and moral force, that politicians crave.
Being far removed from the American political scene, the world musicians coming out for Obama in song are motivated less by political suasion or a sense of their own force than a rooting interest in seeing him succeed.
"All over the world, the idea of a black American becoming president is very inspiring," says journalist Elena Oumano, who has written about the clash of music and politics in the Caribbean.
Legendary Trinidad-born calypso musician the Mighty Sparrow not only endorsed Obama in song, he held a press conference in Brooklyn with the senator at which he presented him with a copy of his latest single, "Barack the Magnificent." Mighty Sparrow's lilting tune is undoubtedly the catchiest ditty to ever include the phrases "the Foreign Relations Committee can attest to his tenacity" or "in the wake of the Jack Abramoff scandal."
As the above lyrics might indicate, "Barack the Magnificent" is surprisingly detailed in its praise of Obama. It is not only a Caribbean-style anthem of praise for fearless political hope - it is also a capsule biography of the senator and a careful reckoning of the mess he might inherit.
Meanwhile, on "Fired Up & Ready to Go," Cameroonian-Canadian guitarist Fojeba layers his delicate fretwork, and repeated title refrain, over inspirational sound bites from Obama speeches. "Are you fired up?" Obama asks. "Are you ready to go?" Fojeba chimes in with his own declaration, turning a question into a quietly forceful statement. Jamaican star Cocoa Tea offers a classic reggae sound with his song "Barack Obama," channeling Peter Tosh in body and spirit: "This is not about class, nor color race nor creed/ Make no mistake, it's the changes, what all the people them need."
Closer to home, East LA-born Miguel Orozco's reggaeton "La Caminata" pounds relentlessly, its percussive thump far more aggressive than these mostly laid-back songs. Like the others, though, "La Caminata" finds the music in Obama; Orozco seems to derive great pleasure from repeatedly chanting Obama's name, its two-syllable/three-syllable stutter step the perfect accompaniment to its jagged rhythms.
Extra Golden's "Obama," inspired by the band's earlier encounter with the senator (see story below) and three members' Ken-yan Luo heritage (the same as Obama's father), is a slice of sunny Afrobeat. The song's circular guitars orbit skittering, stop-start drums and a surprisingly fire-breathing funk-guitar riff over the song's closing "Obama yeh yeh yeh" chant.
"I'm full of joy when I'm praising Obama," croons lead singer Opiyo Bilongo. "Your honorable actions make me proud. . . . Your wife Michelle is straightforward, you are all well-educated."
"If they could figure out some way to let Kenyans vote in the election, he'd win in a landslide," Extra Golden's Alex Minoff says with a laugh. Sung in Luo, and clocking in at more than eight minutes, "Obama" would make an unlikely successor to "Don't Stop" or "Born in the USA" as a campaign anthem, but the band remains optimistic about its prospects. "We'd love to play the inauguration," Minoff says.
"Obama" is not the only Barack-themed song to emerge from the Extra Golden collective. Vocalist Onyango Jagwasi assembled a group of Kenyan musicians for a tentative album full of Obama praise songs. Tracks like "Obama Hoyee" (available from the website of Minoff's label Kanyo, kanyokanyo.com) echo the easygoing sound of Extra Golden's "Obama," with the chant of "Obama yeh yeh yeh" giving way to "Barack Obama, hoyee hoyee."
"We decided to record a song about him to praise him," says Jagwasi. "To show the love we have and to give him some morale to compete hard to become president of the United States of America."
Other Kanyo releases provide some context for the outpouring of Obama songs from Jagwasi and Extra Golden, with the political spotlight turned back to Kenya. Another Kenyan musician, Bana Kadori, recorded an album of songs about longtime Kenyan opposition figure and current prime minister Raila Odinga, and numerous other performers chipped in with singles.
Kenyan musicians have a long tradition of using their music in support of favored political figures, and the unlikely rise of Barack Obama has inspired musicians from all over the world to pick up their instruments and sing. For world-music fans, it could make for one heck of an inauguration party.
