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The Rhodesia Herald

May 28, 1969  

ATTACKING “pop” music because, he said, “it distracts people from thinking”, a Highfield African priest yesterday called for more African music writers. The African people of Rhodesia should develop their music because it had the richest beat in the world, he said.  

The priest, Father Emmanuel Francis Ribeiro, of the Roman Catholic Church, of St Mary’s Church, Highfield, is a musician, playwright, poet and novelist. He is also the chairman of the Shona and Ndebele Writers Association.  

The 30-year-old priest, who said he would now concentrate on writing music, said “pop” music offered nothing to mature minds. 

“It appeals to emotions only; it is a protest against the order of things in society without being constructive. ‘Pop’ singers clamour that they want this and that done but they do not say how it should be done,” he said.  

Calling for more African music writers, Fr Ribeiro said most Africans did not realise that their music had the richest rhythm in the world.  

“They look down upon it as being sloppy and uncouth and they like listening to the music of the Beatles without realising that the Beatles borrowed the rhythm of African music, developed it and then gave it to us. Why did we not develop our music and then sell it to the Beatles?” he asked.  

If Africans developed their music, said Fr Ribeiro, they would also be enriching their culture because “singing” is a projection of oneself”.  

He has already written 20 songs which are being sung in Roman Catholic churches throughout Rhodesia.

He said the few established African music writers in Rhodesia were concentrating on church songs. But if more talented people, took music seriously, one day there would be African symphonies and orchestras, he said.  

Speaking of the Shona and Ndebele Writers’ Association, which holds its second general meeting on June 7, Fr Ribeiro said he appealed for donations because the Association was in financial dire straits. He said it depended on subscriptions for funds, but these were able only to cover the costs of postage and stationery.  

He said the forthcoming meeting of the Association would discuss, among other things, starting a newsletter of poems and short stories so as to interest more people in the Association’s activities because membership was “still very small”.  

Fr Ribeiro said the Association hoped to publish, with their authors’ agreement, poems submitted as an obituary to the African poet, Wilson Chivaura, who died a few years ago.  

LESSONS FOR TODAY  

At the age of 30, Fr Ribeiro who passed away on June 17 at the age of 86, and declared a National Hero demonstrated how multi-talented he was. Music was his forte, and he was also an artiste. 

The cleric was a Pan-Africanist at heart who was prepared to fight for the preservation of African norms and values. These were the beliefs that he died with, which he also wanted the young generation to embrace. 

Music is one of the most powerful vehicles used to showcase a people’s social and cultural traits. Music is part of the national interest.  

Through locally-produced music, a nation can also showcase and preserve its national identity.  

The advocacy to have locally-written and produced music has seen Government enacting a regulation stipulating a 75 percent local content. As a result, local radio and television stations are abiding with the 75 percent local content air play policy.  

The development of locally-produced music has seen an exponential growth of local talent in various genres, and many internationally acclaimed stars have risen.