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Stopping Emmerson: the Chief Advocate of the Masses

Author: Kingsley Lington

I first heard it on BBC, Emmerson Bockarie’s yesterday pass tiday. My initial reaction is, compared with Tutu Party, Borbor Belle or Bobor pain – three of Emmerson’s greatest hits – yesterday pass tiday isn’t a big deal. In melody and rhythm, the song is more in sync with Borbor Belle, although the lyrics are not as strong and lines not as rhythmical.Â Emmerson would however expect it to make the Borbor Belle impact, which is essentially a call to action. The jury is still out on this possibility.

Yesterday pass tiday has been spread virally; it has become even a YouTube sensation, and thanks to Osman Benk Sankoh, it landed on my desk. I have listened to it a few more times, and my conclusion is that it is a bomb! On listening to a song for the first time, there is something about it that tells you whether it is going to the sky or it will kiss the dust. That is how much it resonates in the sub-conscious. Put in another way, when you are flipping the early morning newspapers, or having a cup of tea, or in some bad mood or just going through the daily routine, do some unseen forces lodge the song in the heart? If yes, that is a good song. Honestly, only few songs get to this sublime point.

Timing of the release of borbor belle was a masterstroke. By the way, singers such as Emmerson have discovered that the secret to success is ensuring that contents of songs align with the dynamics of the times. There is a caveat though, namely that with especially political songs, once circumstances that propelled the songs change, the songs become extinct. This is the reason why you would rather listen to Tutu Party today than to borbor belle. Tutu party is a soul-stirring song, with a universal appeal. My cousin in Edo State in Nigeria listened to tutu party and fell in love with it. When we organize gigs in Liberia, people of all nationalities stand to stomp when tutu party is played. Borbor belle does not have the same effect. However, remember that when Emmerson was to launch the borbor belle album many years ago, and he was taken to the stadium in a pushcart, by the time he got on stage and began the borbor belle song, the crowd wailed in jubilation and mobbed him, and the show ended abruptly. Borbor Belle was an audacious aggregation of their aspirations at that time; that song soothed their wounded souls because it vented on their behalf feelings of anger and frustrations at the status quo.

Borbor belle anointed Emmerson as the Chief Advocate of the Masses (CAM). The masses are poor, desolate, homeless, hungry, and without a voice. Their lives are decimated by the dirty intrigues, thievery and the recklessness of the political class. The masses easily identify with Emmerson. He is their man, and trust me, after Bobor Belle, the young man would have won the presidency of Sierra Leone at the time. That song and a couple protest songs like we dae gee them notice rallied the masses against the SLPP, and brought the party down. Get this: when it comes to mobilization, nothing works better and faster than protest songs. Bob Marley’s songs still fire freedom fighters the world over. Lucky Dube’s songs were the oil with which the food of the anti-apartheid struggle was eaten. When the NPRC took over in 1992, Sunny Okosun’s African soldier almost replaced Sierra Leone’s national anthem.

Smart musicians are like prostitutes. They have no loyalty to any party or to any particular ideology. To them, those are complicated concepts. Their acts evolve as quickly as the society evolves, and this pragmatism makes them some of the most influential members of the society. We can assume, and rightly, that musicians prey on the sensibilities of the masses by providing for them – even if pretentiously – a voice. For sure, the ultimate goal may be more to smile their way to the bank than to effect social change because once social change occurs the musicians become jobless. Ask Lucky Dube what job he had after Nelson Mandela became President.

There have been stories that yesterday bette pass tiday had been bought over by the APC government. Emmerson did not help matters by not quelling this obviously false story. Call that smart promotions. This is a devious guerrilla marketing tactic: you deliberately allow rumours to spread, once such rumours can trigger hunger for the product.

Already, Emmerson’s song is raising dust. People may say he has sold out to the opposition. He can defend this by claiming borbor belle is probably a much more politically intense song produced when the main opposition party was in power. Some people may dismiss yesterday bette pass tiday as the ranting of a wayward singer whose song will disappear as quickly as the morning dew. This would be foolish because the song is bound to resonate beyond imagination, and it has the capacity to define very effectively the character of the present government. There is a linear connection between the unpopularity of a situation and the popularity of a song about such a situation. In other words, the extent to which a song about a government is popular is directly proportional to the extent to which people are dissatisfied by policies of such a government. Honestly, this ought to worry the APC government.

The good news for government is that Emmerson can be humiliated.Â Â How?

The first step to ridiculing Emmerson is to ensure the basis for his songs is undermined. Yesterday bette pass tiday can ring hollow if this government can act in ways to show today is better than yesterday. Make Emmerson foolish by turning Sierra Leone into a land that flows with milk and honey. Disgrace Emmerson by providing electricity, jobs, affordable housing and restoring the sense of national pride for which Sierra Leoneans used to be famous. This way, Sierra Leoneans will look Emmerson in the face and say: “you too pas mark”. They will then make this singer with a venomous tongue jobless. Until then, Emmerson will continue to be the Chief Advocate of the Masses

Editor’s note:Â Kingsley Lington was once the editor of Concord Times.Â He now works for an international organization.

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