The article was originally published by Ebola Deeply.
By Brooks Marmon
Last week, the conference room of Monrovia’s Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) was decked out in red, white, and blue balloons: the colors of Liberia’s Lonestar flag. The event? A tribute by the Musicians’ Union of Liberia (MULIB) to the artists – singers, hip-co stars, songwriters and other musicians – who joined the Ebola fight.
Bernard Benson, better known as DJ Blue, the manager of Hott FM, one of Liberia’s most popular radio stations, was the MC for the event. He set the tone by noting, “We took Ebola from 100 percent to 0.0 … no one must underestimate what Liberian music did. It resonated to every Liberian, to the people that matter.” G. Bennie Johnson, MULIB’s vice president, echoed his words, adding that “musicians have the power, real power, to do something good for this country.”
Nearly a dozen videos accompanying Ebola awareness songs were screened as part of the festivities. Instructing “women [to] be careful on how you do your market business” and noting that Ebola can be spread by contact with bodily fluids, the songs closely aligned with much of the guidance on Ebola provided by the government and international responders. Some tracks, such as “Hope Song” and “Save Liberia,” struck an inspirational tone, featured a large roster of performers and were launched with the support of NGOs. Other efforts, such as Mr. Henries IV’s “Ebola Survivor,” were purely homegrown and intended to be both informative and danceable.
The tracks covered a range of musical disciplines, from David Mell’s melodic R&B crooning on “Prayer Against Ebola,” to the gospel sounds of Emma Smith on “Protect Us from Ebola.” Even the Liberian soccer star and senator George Weah collaborated on a track, “Ebola: Africa Must Stand and Fight Together.” Roughly a dozen videos were screened, prompting DJ Blue to observe that with the level of focus from Liberian musicians, “Ebola had to go” (a play on the widespread “Ebola Must Go” awareness messaging). A total of 34 artists, production companies and musical groups were awarded certificates for their contributions to the struggle against Ebola.
While the tone of the event was generally positive, Liberians are ever mindful that they have lost their Ebola-free declaration once and that Guinea and Sierra Leone still struggle with the virus. Osman Sankoh, the chief of Community Outreach for the United Nations Mission in Liberia, suggested the erection of an Ebola memorial, as Rwandans have done to memorialize the 1994 genocide.
“In our music development and creativity, let us remember the health sector,” said Juli Endee, a well-known Liberia cultural ambassador and peace activist. “Let’s sing some more songs, let’s tell the world about stigma, let’s tell the world about Guinea and Sierra Leone.”
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Brooks Marmon is a program officer at Liberia’s Accountability Lab. He tweets @AfricaInDC.
[Photo courtesy of Ebola Deeply]