Posted in: Reggae by gaby7 on October 24th, 2007 | 1 Comment
Lucky Dube died in a foiled car robbery in South Africa recently. Dube was the king of African Reggae and he will be missed allover the world.
Dube was slated to visit Uganda in a Musical show this December and all Ugandans were already bracing for the man who usually sets the entire city of Kampala astir. Now that wont come to pass because some dark hearted people thought he should not live to see another day and they got him killed in cold blood on Thursday, 18th October, 2007 in the presence of his two teenage children.
Lucky Dube was only 43 when he met his senseless death. In my country, his music puts smiles in the many wretched hearts allover the place because he was a Reggae star who sang about life, family, morals, freedom, respect and the virtues of love. He was Rastafarian and wore dreadlocks, but Lucky neither smoked nor drunk alcohol. He was a freedom fighter and had a stint against apartheid in the years of racial divide in South Africa with his songs.
He started his musical career quite humbly in 1982 and became a household name by the late 80s and the early 90s. He boasts of 22 Albums to his musical accolade and in my country, every rural person can hum at least a stanza of Dube’s many touching songs about life. His most moving song today in his demise is “Daddy In Whatever You Do, Remember me”. Many of the FM stations are blaring this particular number and many young people have been seen unconsciously wiping tears whenever this song is played on the Kampala streets. Many of his portraits in full size adorn Kampala business centers and Ugandans are buying most of these portraits as away of identifying with this great musician.
The last time Dube was in Kampala in 2001, he told a despondent but massive Ugandan crowd like a prophet, that that was to be his last show in Kampala. Lucky was always wary of Kampala because every time he came here, one or two people would die. On the last two occasions he had visited the country, there were suffocations resulting from massive overcrowding in the stadiums of Mandela and Nakivubu. In Lucky’s concert, the entire city population would converge and accidents related to traffic congestions were very common. But two month’s ago, his close personal friend and promoter in Kampala, Mr. Rugasira had successfully persuaded Lucky Dube to change his mind and visit Uganda one more time. He made a strong promise that he would be in Kampala on December 31st and plans for his show were already being drawn. Certainly this plan is not going to proceed and Lucky’s original idea that he had made his last concert in this city in 2001 is going to hold for a fact, unfortunately.
The death of Dube brought the 2007 Rugby World Championship glory of South Africa, into ridiculous anti-climax. People had muted jubilations because both this win and the death of Dube evoked opposite emotions. However, for the government of South Africa, this should be an eye opener. With the daunting statistics of 19,000 people dying as a result of crime related violence annually in South Africa, the government must put every available resource into fighting crime. The world is watching closely because South Africa is a FIFA World Cup destination, come 2010 and such negative publicity of crime could jeopardize their bid to host the FIFA World cup if no tangible steps are seen to be taken
As for Dube, we have learnt that the killers who happened to be young men within the age bracket of 31-35 of Mozambiquean origin, have been arrested. Now the law must take its just course. May his soul rest eternally in peace-we love you Philip Lucky-Dube!
kalule Arthur January 11th, 2012 at 3:31 am
It never crossed my mind that he would die one day at least not in such a bad way. his death shocked, to this day every time i review of how he died, sorrow feels my heart. Of how i wish God would grunt such good people long life, so bad good people don’t live a long life. May his soul rest in peace.