Framing Subalternity, Precarity and Poverty in Selected Songs by Leonard Zhakata

Abstract

This article examines the ways in which poverty is portrayed in selected songs composed and performed by Leonard Karikoga Zhakata. Zhakata is renowned for his songs that depict the deprivation, failed governance, greediness, and everyday hardships that most Zimbabweans experience in postcolonial Zimbabwe. In this article, we situate media framing theory within the processes that inform people's vulnerability. Through thematic analysis of four songs composed and performed by Zhakata, we bring to the fore the complexity of music, power and subalternity in Zimbabwe as well as the complexity of poverty, deprivation and vulnerability in Zimbabwe as portrayed in art. Zhakata's songs reflect that poverty in Zimbabwe is a result of poor governance and an inability and unwillingness by the leadership to improve the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans. Zhakata appreciates that poverty and vulnerability are multifaceted phenomena influenced by complex structural conditions in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the songs illustrate dimensions of poverty as well as the plurality of meanings that Zimbabweans from different class, cultural, and religious backgrounds attach to everyday struggles. We argue that through his music, Zhakata captures subaltern experiences and realities, and challenges those in power to transform governance models in ways that benefit marginalised categories of society. This makes Zhakata's music political and accounts for the complex relationship Zhakata has had with the political leadership in government. The article makes a contribution to the complexity of music, power, and subalternity in postcolonial Zimbabwe.