Lyrics and artistic improvisations in health promotion for the COVID-19 pandemic control in East Africa

Abstract

News about the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China in December 2019 diffused gradually to East Africa through mainstream media and social media. The general public construed the pandemic threat as being ‘far away’ and associated it with foreign practices and behaviours. Social media discourse was initially replete with indifference about the perceived risk. Conflicting views about the possibility of the pandemic spreading to Africa and the complexity of explaining its causes delayed the desired understanding of the reality of the global public health concern. The popular public response to the COVID-19 control discourse is therefore characterised by ambivalence about embracing the pandemic control protocols. Drawing on content and discourse analysis of musical and poetic compositions on COVID-19 by artists in East Africa and shared among WhatsApp users in Kenya, this article describes local perspectives on COVID-19 risk and their health promotion implications. It explores local construction of the meaning of the COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences for effective health promotion. The article considers the spontaneous musical and poetic performances by experienced and amateur artists as local attempts to enhance compliance with the global COVID-19 control protocols and popular participation in local health promotion. The basic premise is that artists’ creation and sharing of digital COVID-19 lyrics denote their attempt to go beyond the medical logic of health promotion by including broad aspects of a cultural logic of care. This approach would establish an integrated and sustainable health promotion framework to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and its impact on local societal wellbeing.

Post‐pandemic cities: An urban lexicon of accelerations/decelerations

“…In many African cities, situated rituals, practices and actions have offered local residents a repertoire of options to explore and experiment with in order to cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic times. In Nairobi, for instance, musical compositions and poetic performances by experienced and amateur artists played an integral role in constructing and sustaining popular meanings of the pandemic and enhancing compliance with the global protocols (Mulemi, 2021). Popular media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp and TikTok became sites where medical logics and cultural logics of care combined and moved to help residents navigate pandemic restrictions (Guma, 2022).…”

A Study on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Pop Music Production and Dissemination in Kenya

“…These Kenyan artistes not only used bongo music to entertain and calm the anxieties of the listeners, but as Otieno (2021) notes, pop music is also used to educate, preserve the histories, and to communicate. For example, Mulemi (2021) notes that bongo's "... initial and subsequent lyrics blend contemporary transnational with local genres or styles and poignant footage of the COVID-19 medical facts and emergencies" (p.26). Young people particularly were intrigued by this genre.…”

Music to Face the Lockdown: An Analysis of Covid‐19 Music Narratives on Individual and Social Well‐Being

“…During the pandemic, music was used as a therapeutic vehicle to reduce discomfort while strengthening emotional support (Partida Valdivia, 2020). In this sense, music achieved two main actions: it alerted and informed about prevention strategies (Mulemi, 2021) and it mitigated the impacts of the administrative measures to contain the virus spread, which included social distancing and lockdowns (Beam & Kim, 2020;Tull et al, 2020). Beam and Kim (2020) draw attention to both young and old adults who faced problems due to isolation measures and loneliness.…”

“…This means realising that part of the solution (at least) relied on each person following the recommended prevention measures. Furthermore, the capacities related to well-being and life might also be stimulated through the constant reminder of environmental conditions and individual and social implications and dynamics (Daykin et al, 2017;Mulemi, 2021).…”