Third Time Lucky: Freshlyground and Cross-border Censorship in Zimbabwe

ABSTRACT

In 2010 South African band Freshlyground produced a satirical music video critical of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s 30-year long tyrannical rule titled “Chicken to Change.” For eight years after the song’s release, the band was barred from Zimbabwe. Using Ngugi wa Thiongo’s “enactments of power” concept and Michel Foucault’s insights on censorship, this account investigates the cross–border and esthetic censorship dynamics that prevented the band from landing and performing in Zimbabwe. The paper argues that the Zimbabwean state used its national borders and ports of entry as a music censorship mechanism and provides a nuanced appreciation of performance censorship in contemporary postcolonial Zimbabwe.

KEYWORDS:

• Censorship
• Chicken to Change
• Freshlyground
• HIFA
• Zimbabwe coup

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

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Pedzisai Maedza

Pedzisai Maedza holds a PhD from the Center for Theater, Dance and Performance Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa and the Anthropology and African Studies Department, Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Germany. Maedza obtained an MA in Drama from the University of Cape Town and a BA Honors in Theater Arts from the University of Zimbabwe, both degrees were awarded with distinction. His work has been awarded the International Federation for Theater Research (IFTR) New Scholars Award as well as the African Studies Center-University of Leiden’s Africa Thesis Award.