December 2010
By Elias Mhegera and Freddy Macha
FROM London where he had scores of fanatics to Biafra grounds and in Sinza at his home, and at the graveyard the talk was the same, Remmy was a philosopher.
From London a veteran journalist Freddy Macha says he came to know even more about Remmy Ongala’s final years which were dedicated to the philosophy of humility, forgiveness and love.
He says these are some of the most basic tenets of any true religion. Macha remembers that the last time he spoke to Remmy was in 1997 at his house, in Sinza, he had not quite converted to Pentecostalism.
By becoming a born again Christian known as ‘Ulokole’ in Swahili had a lot of transformation to the life and philosophy of the legendary, and this was confirmed by the long time music associate Filbert Nyoni.
Nyoni says he was closer to the musician since when he joined their band Matimila after being convinced by a famous soloist Fan Fan Mossesengo, who had crossed there from Makassy Ochestre.
“I know by becoming a born again Christian it was signifying that Remmy had lost hope in life, but otherwise his fans still needed him on the conventional stage performances, not Gospel Music,” says Nyoni.
He is convinced that music fans would have convinced Remmy to go back to stage performance if he was to go into full recovery. This then would have been another source of commotion and controversy.
To Freddy Macha, however, this conversion was a personal spiritual journey. “I do not want to judge or analyze that matter further but my interest is with Remmy Ongala, an artist I had a great connection,” reads part of his obituary to The Express.
The veteran journalist was writing a weekly culture and art column in the Sunday News (Cultural Images- 1981-84) he interviewed and reviewed his music and gigs a couple of times.
In 1983 he decided to publish his biography after having realized that the musician had such an interesting life, that he was misunderstood by the majority of the population and audiences.
“Sometimes I would be in his house, Toni (Remmy’s wife) would cook a stew of meat and vegetables while Remmy made Ugali or something else. This was unusual but was part of Remmy’s versatile personality and progressive family life style,” says Macha.
Macha who used to visit and interview Remmy during his performance tours in the UK, describes the musician as a deeply spiritual man with keen thoughts and a very simple straightforward way of thinking.
The message in his songs were for the poor, within this context he used to sing about death, poverty (Mnyonge hana Haki) and even his own physical appearance (“Remmy mimi sura mbaya, lakini roho yangu nyeupe”) admitting that he is ugly but his heart is clean.
He remembers that in a conversation in London, in 1996 Remmy told him that his ambition was to be able to read people’s thoughts without talking to them. He was personally interested in people; he loved and sang about them.
He says within this he would then pen songs like Arusi ya Mwanza, Kilio, Dole, Carolla and Mambo Kwa Soksi, which spoke of social issues particularly the use of condom in protection against HIV/Aids, while making everyone smile.
He graphically analyses a sea creature that we always consume, with relish. He takes you through the fish’s life. A fish that does not blink when it is picked out of the water never blinks when it is cooked and eventually eaten, “still unblinking.”
Remmy was not just sympathetic, he was being symbolic, although one may equally deduce his stand against animal cruelty. He called for human beings not kill millipedes when they see them because the arthropods are ‘friends’ of human beings.
Bad even more is the fact that Remmy urged African politicians to remove country borders and passports because Africa is one. This view is both a Pan Africanist and internationalist position where the singer sees the world as his living room.
But this was after he was troubled by some immigration officials in Tanzania after he was arrested shortly after a foreign trip on grounds that his working permit had expired.
Mbombo Kamunebu a.k.a. Mbombo wa Mbomboka says Remmy was a poet and politician apart from being a comedian. He remembers to have worked with him at the Orchestre Makassy and he realized that anytime you could expect him to come up with a word that will cause loud laughter from the audience.
When he recorded a song ‘Mrema’ after the then popular Minister for Home Affairs Augustine Mrema all went well, so when Mrema joined the opposition party NCCR-Mageuzi he used to follow him in the political rallies but soon he hit a snag after being prohibited by the government.
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