Introduction
There is growing frustration among many on the purpose of life. As an extra bill, for many Africans an addition conundrum is the question of identity. Most of these experiences and renewed search border on the apparent failure of observed solutions, various puerile salvific constructions and colossal failure of human interpretations of divine claims. Be that as it were it is not the purpose of this piece to delve into theologies rather make a brief detour on a long journey towards eliciting the lacuna between Africans and cultural imperialism of the last 500 years.
On a small scale I am attempting to use the music of a relatively known musician called Harcourt Whyte (1905 – 1977) to construct a compelling positive narrative that successfully blended African ontology, pan Africanism and Christianity through singing. Of course geography will bind it together in the form more likely of a state. In the background were the dominant logic surges towards giving options or prescription melding, this sagacious man constructed his music with a refreshing foundation of immutable African metaphysical core expressed through nuggets of philosophical statements, evergreen proverbs and pre-Christian reflections. Atop this edifice, he laid out the resurrection-imperative of Christianity. In a sense you obtain full dose of African dignity and unblemished rendering of Christ essence.
The State called Music
For non-Igbo speakers, it is a challenge because most of the songs I am referred to are composed and sang in Igbo nevertheless there are similar templates among various African peoples and nations especially for many whose linguist heritage is under serious assault and threat of extinction. One must assert that the first radiance of his music is the intrinsic beauty of Igbo language, like other African languages. I am aware that associating African languages with beauty is something many Africa may reject with reflex action. The diabolical Hegelian (German) distortion of Africa and Africans has carried itself into the present with similar untainted panache as aggressive despoliation of the continent through transatlantic slave trade. Nevertheless there is consolation that such gems are captured and saved for future generations.
I stumbled onto Harcourt Whyte music and songs while reflecting on the subject introduced above. I must put my hand up that my detailed knowledge of man is limited. Internet search generated an eclectic array of web pages with thin information on the man. The beauty of his productions is that for me, they are not rendered in English which preserved their richness while the contents touch on many values including cultural pride, pan Africanism, cultural identity, rich Christian theology devoid of dominating/rejecting Africanness, Afrocentric geopolitics and many more. I am certain that no primary school, secondary school or university in Igboland/Nigeria has a productive curriculum of this man.
Still I found a number of points vindicating my position that Christianity and Africanness have a lot in common and a lot of share without the former dominating and suppressing the latter in a given geographical and or geopolitical entity. This is more exciting considering the climate of imposed separation of Church and state, a template for sharing power by European power elite concluded in 1648. Harcourt Whyte simply developed a theology in his songs that confirmed that every experience in a unique place must have its context upheld, an unimposed context that reflects essence of the people and their unique historical experiences down the ages and towards the future.
Many may have listened to these songs in the past and present without giving much taught beyond their inspiration, originality, intellectual potential and high-quality. Nevertheless these values reflect the fact that like many good things that come out of Africa, Harcourt Whyte was ahead of his time in his thinking, his theology and outlook of life. His message is that you can be fully African and be fully Christian, and be political. And that this Christianity is constructed on African historical and metaphysical experiences, something Latin American Catholics attempted in the 1950s with European counter-reactionary vehemence. More so that being an African Christian is not a template for inferiority or an excuse for retrogressive performance.
From a personal perspective, his magna opus K’Afrika Wee Muta Ihe, [For Africa to learn (from the past)] was arranged with clinical efficiency in simple lyrics, powerful harmony with powerful (geo) political messages. They draw one to listen attentively while using Christ’s experience as a template for reminding African listeners of their strategic collective errors in dealing with imperialists and global power elites due to lack of foresight, inability to engage oppressors cunningly with matching tenacity, lack of unity and etc. See sample of the (rough translated) lyrics;
Christ came to his own
His own rejected him
The Jews preferred a (common) thief
And condemned their redeemer
Today Jews have regretted
When (Mazi) Mbonu Ojike
Killed the whiteman in himself
And immersed fully into his African tradition
Nigeria failed to notice his positive humanity
Never understood him or his words
Today Nigeria has remembered Ojike
When Lumumba wanted to unite Congo
The Congolese regarded him as a lunatic
Followed Shombe and whiteman to kill him
Today Congo has remembered Lumumba
When Nkrumah liberated Ghana
Towards total liberation of Africa
When he concluded that only whiteman worthy of trust
Is a dead one
Ghana never understood
Ghana removed him from power to die in exile
Today Ghana has remembered Nkrumah....
Africa
The ungrateful receiver of gifts
Who shows appreciation only when the gift is finished.
His powerful poetry hacks on the mysteries of life, the inevitability of personal responsibility and futility of human experiences. When one contrasts some of the verses with current events, you are confronted with a reality that is no different. A reality which all the human intellectual constructions so far have miserably failed to articulate or manage successfully. Atop is the unfurling evidence of industrial-scale misinterpretation of various religious traditions (in Africa) starting with their alignment with the global power elite solely committed to unbridled profit, monopolistic capital acquisition and unchallenged capital accumulation. Consequences do not exist!
Real Politics with eyes open
It is very clear that from these experiences, Harcourt Whyte was ahead of his time as current generation self-condemn with uncritical attachment with conventional wisdom even as evidence of their abuse and distortion manifest daily. As democracy wings dangerously with virulent capitalism irreversibility on its legs, as Whyte warned, Africa confusingly remains the crucible of domination by United States via AFRICOM and China in apparent penetration via dumping of poor-quality goods, questionable deals and lop-sided trade. While United States is a known quantity, many Africans assumed Beijing is and will be a benevolent player as if (independent/interdependent) superpowers play moral games. Most importantly many Africans (some will deny) are unaware that current Chinese mainstream thinking rejects Africa as the home of man, hence a separate Chinese origin.
Not only has the post Berlin-conference failed the people for whom the decisions were against their wish/will, their descendants have grossly failed to confront the basic questions of what, why and how of these imposed territorial and geopolitical configurations. The main culprit is the ubiquitous lack for identity. Clarity of identity and essence of existence precede call for discussion of common issues and problem dynamics whose potential solutions may be incentive to pursue further cohesion and closer bonds. Unity is an expensive value and Harcourt Whyte laid it bare by laying harshly into generations of post-colonial leaders who have grown pathologically allergic to people-oriented leadership and governance.
He navigated the headlines of the sad experiences across Africa by expressing these gaps as failures of Christianity and or divine duties as related in the gospel. Of course what was missing in Harcourt Whyte political theology is the absence of acknowledge that Christianity in Africa is stunted because instead of being a victim it is an oppressor who trait continues to manifest. Christianity did not arrive in Africa as an unaided evangelical encounter between peoples; rather it touched down as an arm of imperialistic script of civilisation stripping. Most importantly, the end will never and doesn’t justify the means. The conundrum will be resolved when pedlars of ‘truth’ finally concede with praxis of a ‘truth that sets one free’. Whether what obtains in Africa (except Egypt and Ethiopia) currently is an unfettered Christianity is open to debate. Following Chinua Achebe’s 1999 Odenigbo Lecture conclusion on the role of early (foreign) church in bastardisation of Igbo Language, one wonders whether the so-called church leaders have (any) authority or leverage whatsoever on politics and socio-economic issues.
Conclusion
In recognising Harcourt Whyte, I managed to represent a reality that is not only denied deliberately in discourses but has shifted like some form of mind control that Christianity in Africa is separate from her politics. Nevertheless another useful point is the fearlessness of his lyrics which presupposes that Christianity in Africa can only thrive in spaces of confidence and bold relationships of praxis that Africa is the common of Africans and the common home of man under the charge of Africans. Above all (African) gospel music is influential more so if listeners permit their inspiration to navigate beyond the platitude of time-limited & attention-limited relaxation towards transforming positive feelings into calculated life-giving positive action.
