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On July 26, as a army coup was underway within the West African nation of Niger, the airwaves of Télé Sahel, the state tv station, crammed with upbeat music movies praising the army. A few of these movies had been circulating for years, however since a gaggle of generals toppled the democratically elected president in July, Niger has witnessed a revival of each outdated and new army propaganda, now remixed for the TikTok period.
In interviews, a dozen artists, lecturers and leisure executives plugged into the Nigerien music scene stated that what could possibly be seen as a paradox within the West — an outpouring of recent movies and music underneath army rule — made sense in a rustic with a protracted historical past of griot tradition, the place storytellers and keepers of oral historical past praised figures of authority. Concern and respect towards the army are additionally deeply entrenched inside the society, analysts stated.
It’s not clear what number of Nigeriens help the army takeover. However the widespread enchantment of those songs and movies gives a window into the layered historical past and sentiments that exist between Nigeriens and the army, which has been omnipresent within the nation’s political life by means of 5 coups in 50 years and, these days, a battle with Islamist insurgencies.
Additionally they make clear why many in Niger have partly welcomed the top of democratic rule that they related to endemic corruption, financial hardship and restricted freedom of expression, together with for artists.
Drums of battle and the silence of censorship
As hundreds of individuals took to the streets of the capital, Niamey, in early August in help of the brand new junta Souleymane and Zabeirou Barké, two brothers, joined the crowds to shoot their newest music video.
Amongst throngs of males assembled in entrance of the nation’s nationwide meeting, the inexperienced and orange Nigerien flags, raised fists and defiant messages towards Western international locations supplied a super backdrop for his or her new track, “Niger Guida,” or “Niger My Residence” within the Hausa language.
The specter of a army intervention by a bloc of West African international locations has solely strengthened the resolve of younger Nigeriens to defend their nation and prompted some artists to denounce the threats in scathing songs.
“Niger is our dwelling, whoever tries to assault us will face the results,” the Barké brothers, who’re of their 30s and make up the favored rap group MDM, say within the track, which has been broadcast on Télé-Sahel. “We’re not afraid of loss of life, come and kill us.”
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