The song that championed change – Donchi Kubeba!

Wesley Chibambo’s song provided the soundtrack to the PF’s election win

By Terence Miselo

Following the success of his political song, Donchi Kubeba, which became an anthem for the then opposition Patriotic Front (PF) in the September elections, – aka Dandy Krazy – feels he is a hero for contributing to the regime change and has pledged to continue singing about what the people want.

The 35-year-old Copperbelt-based singer says the Donchi Kubeba concept, a Bemba slang term meaning “don’t tell them”, emerged way back – even before the PF adopted it as their theme song.

Chibambo hints that the song was inspired by what he had been witnessing: high levels of poverty, unemployment, nepotism, bribery and corruption. He then put what he saw into a song to represent the views of the masses.

“I feel like a hero. I am so proud that I played a role to champion change. For me, this was not about the Patriotic Front (PF), it was about the many Zambian people who wanted change and I saw these things happen. I had to do it, because as artists we have a role to represent the peoples’ wishes,” he said.

The jovial singer says putting the song out there was not an easy task as he suffered threats and ridicule from the then ruling Movement for Multi-party Democracy (MMD) supporters. Worse of all, the song was banned on state-owned media, limiting his freedom of expression.

“It was not easy for people especially the ruling party (MMD) to accept the song. It was banned on ZNBC but I was happy the PF liked the concept and adopted the song. That is when a lot of people saw sense in what I was saying,” Chibambo said.

“For me, Donchi Kubeba was poetic and simply meant whatever sufferings, abuses, bribery and intimidation you are going through, don’t complain, don’t tell them; just keep quiet, but show them at the time of casting your vote that you don’t like them,” he added, placing a finger on his lips to make the shhhhh sound associated with the term.

Despite winning favour with the current government, Chibambo insists that politicians need to be accountable to the people and has pledged to continue condemning wrongdoing in any government for the sake of the Zambian people.

“It is common for politicians to dislike criticism and silence artists who speak the truth. Remember it happened to 2wice in the 1990s [artist Callen “2wice” Chisha’s political song Tomato Balunda (tomato prices have gone up) was banned]. This is not good for democracy because we artists speak on behalf of the people. So, for me, I will continue to sing what the people want.”

Chibambo died early this year after being involved in a road accident on the Great North Road between Kabwe and Kapiri Mposhi. His passing came more than a decade after this article first appeared in the November 2011 edition of the Bulletin and Record magazine, closing the chapter on an artist whose music once helped shape a pivotal moment in Zambia’s political history. MHSRIP.