Afrikan Simba (Reggae in London, part 1)
Can Africans break into it? Irene Madonko talks to Afrikan Simba.
It’s hard to swallow but true: whilst a lot of reggae music is about Africa, there are not that many African reggae artists in the UK. We trawled the local reggae circuit and met two London-based Africans pioneering reggae here: Nigerian Afrikan Simba (Part 1) and Sierra Leonean Bush Doctor (Part 2). South African reggae star Lucky Dube (Part 3) also spoke to us whilst on his European tour and gave a useful insight on the challenges facing Africans who want to make it in reggae.
What’s clear about these artists is that they regard reggae as not just another brand of music, but as a way of life embodying Africanism. Speaking to them about their experiences as reggae artists, it’s hard not to notice that reggae music in London is not the easiest for Africans to break into and that this music does not appeal to young people, although it has the potential to do so.
Afrikan Simba (real name: Nivai Nduka) hit the scene in the nineties and has recorded several tracks with the likes of Jah Warrior and Zion Train. He has performed in several countries including Spain, Greece, Ethiopia and Jamaica. His debut album ‘Salvation for the Now Generation’ was followed by ‘Jah No Dead’. We tackled him about why it’s still not easy for Africans here to crack into reggae, how he made it and where the reggae brand is headed.
Irene Madonko : Why did you choose to go into reggae?
Afrikan Simba : I didn’t chose to get into it, instead Reggae chose me. When I was young, my dad used to play all kinds of music: from African to country and western; but I was growing up in a hostile environment in Hackney and Leyton (east London). Things were hostile between the police and black youths. If the police saw a black youth standing alone or with two or three friends, they’d stop, search and intimidate him. As a young African child, reggae music was the only one that had revolution. Also, my dad had books on Nkwame Nkrumahh and Nyerere and he educated me on them. Reggae inspired me to re-educate myself in a more Afro-centric way.
IM : When did you decide you wanted to become a reggae musician?
AS : I don’t know if I ever decided – I just became one. My friends and I were in high school when we made our first Jamaican sound system. We’d have road shows in Hackney and Leyton. People responded positively.
IM : How did your family respond to your interest in reggae?
AS : My family were frightened. They were discouraged because of the negative things associated with most musicians, like Jimi Hendrix and so on. They didn’t want me to go that way and I suppose musicians were not making mega bucks.
IM : Yet you still went on?
AS : I did because I always had something to say and I’d get into trouble. I was a serious youth. I didn’t even have time for girls. Girls used to say to my friend, ‘what’s wrong with your friend? He’s unapproachable.’ The only things that mattered to me were the bible, my diet (vegetarian) and the philosophy of Pan-Africanism. I was one of the brightest at school but had problems because I was recognising ill treatment and racism, and would make it known that I was aware. It created enemies for me among my teachers who were racist.
IM : Were there many Africans singing reggae at the time?
AS : No! This was the early eighties and in the UK, I had no knowledge of any at that time.
IM : When did African reggae artists show up in the UK?
AS : They still haven’t. The struggles that black people [here] have been going through were not fought by Africans. Africans only started settling here in the last twenty years, unlike people from the Caribbean who came here to settle. In the 1950s Africans could come here to study and then go back. But because of bad governance in Africa, they began coming back here. And now that they are here, African youth are not in tune with the struggle here (mental emancipation from Western ideology), Many of them are educated through Western institutions. Many of them are not in tune with Western mentality, although when Sunday comes, they wear their African clothes to church. This is a factor why reggae music doesn’t appeal to the youth: reggae is a rebel with a cause, and the Western media has turned it into reggae without a cause.
IM : A lot of reggae is about Africa, so why aren’t many Africans here singing it?
AS : Because the Western world has succeeded in keeping African youth away. Things shown on satellite TV make African youth believe they are in prison and unless they earn pounds or dollars, they will not free themselves.
IM : But isn’t it that some African youths yearn for the Western life style, rather than the West imposing it on them?
AS : They choose it, but they don’t choose the content. Like everything else, the West shows them the first world (Mercedes, Apple, mobile phones) and then shows them African famine, strife, poverty and so on. The material things will appeal to the younger people. The success stories of Rastas in Africa is not being told.
IM : You lived in Nigeria too. How popular is reggae there?
AS : Reggae is the staple food in society. It’s more popular with the people in their 35 – 60years old, because from the time of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff, they inspired Africans to get into reggae. The message in reggae has been relevant to African people in the struggle – in Nigeria there was coup after coup. Today Africans may be liberated physically, but the struggle continues economically and mentally.
IM : What’s the reggae industry here like now?
AS : Reggae doesn’t get a big push from the mainstream music industry, because if it did, it would strengthen African people worldwide and friends of Africa who deal with justice and equality.
IM : How many African reggae artists do you know of here?
AS : About three or four, this includes Angel from Nigeria and Rebellion from Gambia.
IM : Is there no infrastructure for Africans here to take off?
AS : No, there’s no heritage for Africans here. By that I mean people from Jamaica living here who want to get into reggae have a relative or someone who is connected to the industry here, but for more Africans to break into it, they’ve got to connect themselves to the industry. For Lucky Dube from South Africa to be recognised, he had to perform in Jamaica.
IM : Wasn’t it lonely for you, being an African in an ocean of Jamaicans? And how did the Jamaicans receive you?
AS : No, I see Jamaicans as Africans also. The ones I generally mix with will live and die for Africa, and the reception has been positive because those who dominate the market welcome anything that comes from Africa that is authentic and done well. If they can’t feel you, they’ll say, “yeah man, you sound soft,” so they don’t put you down, but they don’t raise you up. But if you strong and powerful, they’ll raise you up.
IM : Have you tried to speak to young Africans here about getting into reggae music? What would you advise Africans who want to get into reggae?
AS : Yes, the youth feel excited about what I do and about getting involved, but for someone to get into reggae, you’ve got to have the mind for it - an emancipated mind – and be into Africanism. You need to know about the African struggle for liberation (physically and mentally). You also need to know the importance of the African woman, family and child, and the importance of unity among them.
IM : Do you see a time when more Africans will be performing reggae here?
AS : Yes, because young people in the UK are not original and they sway. They were swaying towards America, but realised America had no time for them. But the youth in Africa will soon be re-exploring reggae again. African youth here realise they can’t make it big in the US or here in the UK, and they will turn to Africa where they can be accepted. They will realise how successful reggae is in Africa and will start performing it here. Today, many Africans here are listening to music from Africa or going to clubs that play music from Africa. Likewise, reggae will be popular in Africa and then here too. And because the youth here are always swaying and switching, they too will get into it.