From headlines to hip-hop: the Ugandan TV show rapping the news

Hitting back at press censorship, NewzBeat uses music to cover controversial topics and engage younger audiences.

Ugandan broadcasters calling themselves “rap-orters” are changing the way news is delivered, after a team of hip-hop artists teamed up to deliver a weekly TV bulletin.

“Uganda’s anti-gay law is making news/Some countries have found it befitting to accuse/Uganda of treating gays as German Jews/Nothing to gain from this and more to lose,” they rapped in a recent episode of NewzBeat, broadcast on NTV, one of the country’s most-watched channels.

Newzbeat’s host Sharon Bwogi aka Lady Slyke (left), producer Daniel Kisekka aka “Survivor” (centre) and rapper 14-year-old Zoe Kabuye in Kampala. Photograph: Isaac Kasamani/AFP/Getty Images

The song addresses a controversial law signed by Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni banning homosexuality, which drew widespread international condemnation. In February last year US Secretary of State John Kerry likened it to antisemitic legislation enforced in Nazi Germany.

“President Museveni says he won’t bow down to the west/Uganda has a right to decide what’s best,” the broadcast continues.

NewzBeat is screened in both English and the local language Luganda on NTV every Saturday before the station’s traditional news bulletins, and first aired last year.

Hearing hip-hop news may sound strange, but in Uganda, where the press faces government censorship and the country’s growing youth population often takes little interest in current affairs, a programme where self-styled rap-orters broadcast with “rhyme and reason” has become hugely popular.

Pushing the boundaries

The show is presented by Sharon Bwogi, Uganda’s “queen of hip hop” known as Lady Slyke, Daniel Kisekka, dubbed the “Survivor”, and teenage rapper Zoe Kabuye, or MC Loy.

It aims to: “promote diversity and visibility for marginalised groups” and “push the boundaries of press limitations” in Uganda, according to Lady Slyke.

“At first we had some complaints, people were saying: ‘We don’t really understand what you’re doing’,” said the presenter, who started rapping when she was 13.

But Bwogi added that today people from all walks of life follow the programme, including businessmen and government ministers.

“People keep asking for more and asking me questions about certain topics,” said Bwogi, 28, who also raps at venues across Uganda professionally.

NewzBeat, which runs for five minutes an episode, usually features four local, regional and international stories.

Nothing is off limits. The programme has covered stories on Uganda’s anti-pornography laws, the political situation in Ukraine and Ebola updates from west Africa.

Challenging political leaders

Corruption is another favourite topic. “All around the world this problem remains/The abuse so far is keeping people in chains,” rapped Kisekka in a recent bulletin on graft.

Bwogi says the programme talks about corruption because it’s a major problem facing Uganda which journalists are becoming increasingly unable to cover.

Uganda’s Human Rights Network for Journalists and other activist groups have repeatedly warned that the space for reporters to operate freely in the east African country is shrinking.

Uganda’s president Yoweri Museveni. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

In October, one journalist was ordered to pay damages or face jail after accusing a government official of corruption. Activists said the trial was a “sad day” for press freedom in the east African country, adding the law was like “a shield for leaders to avoid being criticised.”

Kabuye, 14, has rapped about a wide range of issues – from the Egyptian single mother who spent 43 years living as a man to Uganda’s ID card programme – and says many of her friends are disinterested in the news.

“They used to say it’s boring,” said the student, who has been rapping since 2009 and now juggles her presenting commitments with her homework.

Kisekka, 40, said that in the beginning many viewers dismissed the show as “just entertainment”, but they have come to “appreciate the art form and start listening to the news”.

People are now taking rap more seriously, he said. “It’s not just talking about women and booze and all that, it’s delivering the news,” said Kisekka.

For the future, NewzBeat are also keen to expand across Africa. In Tanzania, a mini-season of four episodes recently aired and another four are set to run in the lead-up to the country’s elections, scheduled for October.

“Media belongs to the power of the day,” Bwogi rapped in one episode. “The Chinese have CCTV/the British have BBC/and we too are making our voices heard on NTV.”

Source: Theguardian.com

By: Amy Fallon

#News #Diaspora