The Power Of Music (“Blewu”): A Reflection

The Ewe song, “Blewu” has assumed global attention. It has moved from perceived obscurity (to some people) to the global arena, because of the power music wields to conjoin cultures. It has also shown the tenacity of music brewed in Africa. It further reincarnated the value of music as a universal language that transgresses geographical and cultural boundaries. I will share just three reasons why the song has become ubiquitous on social media.

First, humans are music-loving being. Throughout history, music has played multiple functions in human society. Music has historical value of recollecting the past, organizing the present and peeping into the futures. Music also has the social significance of reinforcing the sociality and gregarious bent of human beings. Through music, gaps are bridged, while new acquaintances are established. It is clear that many of the delegates deliberating on the century of the so-called World War (I) had no inkling about the meaning of the song. But they could identify with the sentiment and emotional drive of the song. Finally, music soothes anthropocentric and theocentric relationship. In many African societies, it is through music that the deities are invited to participate in the mundane activities of human beings. It is for this reason that there is never any form of spirit possession without music. In Christianity, we read that God dwells in the praises of His people. Among Sufi Muslims, special songs are sang and chanted to reach the esoteric levels of religious activities.

Second, music communicates a universal language. Language is one of the cultural creations of human beings. The world has thousands of languages, some with close linguistic affine, while others are far removed from each other. But music in whatever language is able to communicate a universal message to all. Much as most of the delegate present did not understand the religio-cultural meaning of the song, it is clear that they understood the solemnity of it. They understood the song calling for collective reflection of life. The environment was charged with a voice from Africa.

Finally, music has a therapeutic value. The world is ridden with many diseases, some of which have defied all known medication. But for many centuries, humans have discovered the power of music to provide healing. In the Bible, we read that when Saul was under the influence of evil spirit and was behaving abnormally, it was the songs of David, who later became his mortal enemy that quieted him. The Germans brazed the trail in rediscovering the therapeutic value of music in the modern world. As a student of academic music at the undergraduate and postgraduate level, I understand the value of music in restructuring human society. Angélique Kidjo has reinvented the transnational and trans-cultural bent of (African) music. The tenacity of African music has found expression in the musical performance of Africans in the diaspora. They were bound hand and feet, by they did not lose their culture (including their music).

I love hymns, and I usually sing them whenever I feel pressured by the poly-challenges of life. I hope that our recent musicians in Ghana, many of whom cannot put words together without recourse to unnecessary and unspeakable profanity, will take a clue from this.

God bless Africa and the world. Through music, we can rediscover our common humanity to blur the fault lines of racism, classicism, ethnocentrism, partisan politics, religious strives, and cultural imperialism, which partly formed the basis of the so-called world wars. If language is the vehicle through which culture travels, and music is a universal language, then we have to develop music to enforce human solidarity.

Satyagraha
Charles Prempeh (prempehgideon@yahoo.com), African University College of Communications, Accra