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The man crouches over a keyboard in his home music studio, sunglasses shielding his eyes. He puts his fingers on the keys, raises his head and begins to sing:

No shaking hands with your neighbor

Blow them a kiss from afar                                 

Use soap and water to wage war                         

Let’s show this thing who we are                         

The man is Cobhams Asuquo, a famous Nigerian producer and musician. The song, a piano-based ballad called “We Go Win (Corona Virus),” is part of a collaboration between Asuquo and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to raise public awareness about strategies to combat the spread of COVID-19. In the two months since he posted it to YouTube, it’s racked up nearly 17,000 views and counting. 

Dipo Oyeleye

The song caught the attention of Dipo Oyeleye, a graduate student in the UW-Madison Department of English who also received a master’s degree from the Department of Afro-American Studies in 2014. Oyeleye, a Nigerian who has authored multiple papers on African literature and popular culture, was fascinated by the array of musicians in Africa who were responding to the current global health crisis by composing songs to warn and educate the public—and how effective that music was at conveying key messages In a time of crisis.

As part of his latest research project, Oyeleye is compiling and analyzing a list of more than 50 songs about COVID-19 by musicians across the continent, spanning genres from traditional to hip-hop and EDM. Some simply took the virus as inspiration for a song title. Others wrote songs with lyrics encouraging fans and listeners to find ways to fight it. Still others dropped COVID-19-related comments from celebrities and public officials over percussive beats, creating viral sensations that further raised awareness. In one case, Ugandan pop star and political activist Robert Kyagulanyi, better known as Bobi Wine, teamed up with fellow musician Nuban Li to release the song “Corona Virus Alert” with open licensing, allowing musicians in other African countries to adapt it with lyrics in their native languages. Released under the hashtag #DontGoViral, the original song’s video now has more than a million YouTube views.

“Musicians occupy a unique, often apolitical, space and have a broader appeal to the public sensibility,” explains Oyeleye, who first came to UW-Madison as a Fulbright scholar in 2011. “They tap into their creativity to effectively disseminate the information needed to keep the people safe.”

Oyeleye’s interest in the project was sparked by concern for his family members, who live in Southwest Nigeria.

“I was worried people wouldn’t take the news of the pandemic seriously,” he explains. “There were real questions about how the government was trying to get people to pay attention—how were they disseminating the information?”

Oyeleye says that historically, in countries like Nigeria, there’s been a deep distrust of government among the public that can be traced, in part, to some countries’ tendencies to use the military and police to enforce government orders. Also, there is often a perception of hypocrisy. In the early stages of the pandemic, says Oyeleye, while government officials were releasing public service announcements with information about COVID-19, they were also being captured by media outlets holding parties, shaking hands and failing to wear masks or practice social distancing. 

Then, in April, Abba Kyari, the chief of staff to Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, died of complications related to COVID-19.

“This is real,” Oyeleye recalls, of the public’s reaction. “It’s serious.”

Oyeleye’s project builds on the work of medical ethnomusicologists, who studied the impact musicians had on public behavior during the Ebola crisis that devastated several African nations from 2013-16.  By emphasizing the physical steps citizens could take to avoid becoming ill, and evoking emotional responses in a wide range of groups, African musicians ended up being more effective at reaching and convincing the public to take proper action to control the spread of COVID-19 than government-issued health directives.  Why? Oyeleye says these figures are often perceived as more trustworthy than government officials.

“Musicians have a unique hold on people,” says Oyeleye. “They’re better able to reach a younger demographic. It also helps that what they were doing and saying wasn’t coming from authorities people distrust.”

Compare that to the United States, where popular musicians like Cardi B have used their celebrity and social media accounts to spread information about the coronavirus to their fans, rather than recording and releasing songs featuring COVID-19-related messaging.

“In Africa, there has always been a tradition of creating music to disseminate health information,” says Oyeleye. "We're all trying to figure out different ways to protect everyone, and in Africa, musicians are stepping up to make their voices heard about coronavirus."

Oyeleye will present his full findings at the 63rd Annual African Studies Association Conference this November.