COVID-19 and the Ugandan Presidential Election: Contesting Lockdown Authority in Popular Songs

2022/12/23 by David G. Pier, Micheal Mutagubya · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Diverse Musicological Studies

paper · doi:10.1017/asr.2022.143

openalex publication_date 2022/12/23 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11

Abstract

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic struck when Uganda was in the middle of an acrimonious campaign season, in which longstanding president Yoweri Museveni was being challenged by Bobi Wine, a reggae singer turned politician. When Museveni imposed a strict lockdown, musicians sympathetic to Wine responded with songs about COVID-19 that challenged the government’s short-term, biopolitical demarcation of the national emergency. Pier and Mutagubya interpret a selection of Ugandan COVID-19 pop songs from 2020, considering in musical-historical perspective their various strategies for re-narrating the health crisis.

Citations

• Provisional notes on the postcolony
• Briefing: Contextualizing the Bobi Wine factor in Uganda’s 2021 elections

Cited by

• Contested Truths Over COVID-19 in East Africa: Examining Opposition to Public Health Measures in Tanzania and Uganda

Discussions

• David G. Pier and Michael Mutagubya show how Ugandan music artists contested the Museveni regime’s COVID-19 lockdown policies during a tense election. Their songs shared best health practices, generat [bsky, 0 points, 0 comments]

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