Ugandan Funerals, Chai, Weed, and Vibe
“Ffe tuli eno ku luumbe (ku luumbe). Kyeyamani yafudde (yafudde). Naye vayibu ekutte bitya! Omuwana yaluunze kyayi w’enjaaye!”
Kyayi w’Enjaaye. ~Planet Omutume~ 2023
As you return from those Easter gatherings with family or friends, I wonder whether you noticed any difference in the taste of the tea or other stuff you were served from what you are probably used to – let alone how you felt after sipping on the delicious tea. Of late it is advisable that like me, you carry your own coffee or tea, or a lab testing kit to such gatherings. You never know what your ka Chai will be deliciously spiced with. You have probably already heard the song “Kyayi W’enjaaye” playing on the airwaves, in your taxi, or even caught it online. If not, you definitely will now that you know about it. It’s very popular and trending right now. Having started way back before Bobi Wine’s “Nalumansi”. And like Philly Lutaya’s “Born in Africa”, it has already been redone. YouTube and TikTok, and some megabytes should have you sorted.
When eighteenth-century Scottish patriot Andrew Fletcher (of Saltoun, 1655-1716) said, “Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws”, he intended to emphasize that no law made by the English political machinations would ever erase Scotland, as long as there was Scottish music. Music, and the creative arts at large, is believed to be representative of the philosophies, struggles, successes and failures, ambitions, the culture, values, of a society … and the people themselves.
“Let me make the songs of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws”
While we may prefer to ignore them, artistes, and Musicians in particular can oftentimes be very prophetic. It also gets more interesting when a musician calls himself “Omutume”, literally “the sent”, or “Messenger”, or to an extent “a prophet”. Music can be packaged with healing, or with rebuke, and sometimes edutainment.
In the hard to ignore trending hit “Kyayi w’enjaaye”, Planet Omutume narrates to his young brother in a phone-call that he is in Matugga at their Chairman’s funeral, and some two friends who missed rice had decided to maliciously put weed (enjaaye) into the tea being prepared for the mourners, as would be at many funerals. Apparently, when the mourners take the tea, the effects of the weed are evident in the subsequent type of songs sung and dancing ⎯ everyone is so high, and the “vibe” hyped at the Chairman’s funeral! The mother-in-law and father-in-law, who should be behaving honourably in accordance with cultural norms have also lost control and are enjoying the vibe. The widow too, instead of crying, she sounds like Sheeba singing. The entire song is a phone-call reporting about the situation at hand. But is it the narrator that is high, or all the mourners took the said Kyayi w’enjaaye, and are high?
Funerals and vigils are generally expected to be somber and sad moments, even though in some cultures (especially in Africa) and among some religions (like some Christians) they are a celebration of life. So sometimes it won’t be surprising for a particular funeral to be a little more ‘joyful’ in a sense. Also at funerals, weird and shocking things have a tendency of showing up. Like the sudden appearance of the other widow whose last born is a fine duplicate of the deceased; or the village drunkard(s) getting into a fight and spilling too much of the deceased’s or family’s secrets; a fight between relatives over sharing property …. In some cases, a pair or more of mourners choosing to have sex, while the deceased family is grieving. As they commonly say, ki Uganda, olemmwa!
Of course, all sounds weird until you are caught in one, or even something perhaps worse. Imagine being at a funeral, and gladly receiving a cup of tea, only to have your mind altered and manifesting uncontrolled behaviour just moments later. You are under the influence. What if it’s not just you but all the mourners, and the whole funeral turns into a party, with a full-on high vibe? For many people, if sober, that can come off as awkward. Are the “mourners” glad that the deceased passed on? Or being under the influence of weed, everyone including the widow herself, has forgotten about the dead body?
“An honest and sober reflection about many of the things in this country once known as the Pearl of Africa, calls for a funeral.”
An honest and sober reflection about many of the things in this country once known as the Pearl of Africa, calls for a funeral. But not so with Ugandans. And it can be one of two reasons. Perhaps more. But first, maybe we prefer to focus on the “good” and positive, which undeniably exist in their measure. Or secondly, and of great concern, we are opiated. Under the influence of something like weed, we have been numbed towards whatever it is that may demand our sober somberness. It seems as though many of us are operating on some sort of heights that we totally forget that even weed heights descend at some point, and reality dawns on us all.
We have lost the sense awareness of tragedy, and no longer mourn with those who mourn. Hundreds are murdered in cold-blood, we go on and hold an apparently “free-and-fair election”; a church building is taken down over a fraudulent land deal, our nation moves on like nothing tragic just happened. Forget the gymnastics by a group of religious leaders, only to be numbed by a UGX. 60Bn donation from a Gov’t project; dozens if not hundreds, go missing in extrajudicial arrests, and it’s not our concern! Schools, businesses, are gutted by fire, and lives are lost, including a 13-year old student tied on a bed and burnt in a school dormitory, the country moves on. And the Church too. Workers’ savings are mismanaged and robbed – we move on! We see scores of people die because of hunger caused by drought and famine in Karamoja – we move on. Soon or later, someone thinks the solution to the challenges in that region is Iron sheets. Some partially sober people have asked why Ministers stole the Mabaati? But the mabaati thieves are almost justified because, they know it’s not the urgent solution to the core problems facing Karamoja. It’s called insensitiveness. Need I delve into the mess in our hospitals and healthcare system? To us all is just numbers – the next tragedy is just another.
In the same country, dozens are dying of floods, hundreds of families going homeless – still, we look the other side, suck on our teeth, and move on. We see terrible roads all around us, causing many fatal accidents – we move on. Even when the Global data in reported accidents puts Uganda as one of the countries with highly fatal roads. People driving on the wrong side of the road at Formular1 speeds – the country is busy. Dare to put a driver right, and clearly you are the only stranger in Jerusalem. We have a lot calling, so we move on. A boda-boda guy ferrying six kids to school on one bike, carrying them like some luggage that can easily be replaced in case of an accident. We look on unbothered, busy enjoying the vibe. We move on. Youth lost in drugs, drunkenness, alcoholism, and sports betting – the vibe is on, and everyone is high. Many adults are swinging and clapping along, while some simply look on like powerless dependents. Unprecedented magnitudes of immorality and promiscuity, our fashion and dressing that only serves to expose our deep-seated identity and personality crises. Children studying under trees, with no books, no food, no qualified teachers. Worse still, some end up scoring 0% at their A’ Levels if they dare to make it that far academically. Then the plight of abuse and exploitation, if they ever make into any employment. What shall we say of corruption scandals!
All this and more has been granted normalcy in our public sphere. It is no longer disturbing to hear to see any of it. Well, a nation that numbs itself to such trends, or ignores such tendencies and decay, is bound to send its morality, integrity, and capacity down the drain. But if we don’t want this and are against it, to extent of daring to legislate morality, then how come our outlook is not representative of our desires and confessions! It won’t take any visitor to Uganda a whole year before they can notice the dichotomy between our cries over an ailing economy, while partying all night, or the exorbitant religious life and offerings in the guise of pleasing God.
Unlike in Omutume’s song where his naughty friends maliciously put weed in the mourners’ tea in revenge for missing rice, someone is enjoying adding weed to our reality, to our oxygen, both gaseous and digital.
“Well, a nation that numbs itself to such trends, or ignores such tendencies and decay, is bound to send its morality, integrity, and capacity down the drain.”
Whoever it is, they are doing it like a hired mercenary against our sobriety and conscience. And whoever they are working for seems to have a commitment to ensure that Ugandans never wake up one day thinking, “No. Enough. This is too much!” Rather, even if they should notice it, it passes off as now normal and part of our Ugandan reality. Or as an inconvenience to the party mood and the prevailing vibe. We dare not kill the vibe.
So, are Ugandans consciously complacent about the status quo? Possibly. But if they are under the influence of constant distractions added into their daily consumption, how can we be sure they have extra time or the sobriety to notice and consider the plight of others. Do they even know (or remember) what it means to be sober and aware of the tragedies around them? For example, when it comes to injustices, do they know what justice is? The reality in our society is that you don’t really need to find out or be bothered by it. Afterall pretty much everyone is doing or enduring something similar or worse, under the influence of the same stuff you are on. And besides, there is no toxic-free tea available. If you choose tea, be sure it won’t leave you sobber.
It is an absolute tragedy that the living, instead of mourning over the loss inflicted by death of morals, values, and systems, they rather capitalize on the moment to turn up their vibe and have fun – no time for sad funerals. As though we had something against the now deceased, that their death is relieving and calls for a party. Or that the death of one avails us more to enjoy. But we can’t party soberly in the circumstances. Such a state can be quite telling about our forgetfulness, and if we continue like this, inevitably we are all massively headed to our own funeral(s). Only difference is that no one will be there to mess of be messed by weed-spiced tea.
It is both shocking and concerning to see that this song has not been given the real attention it has called for and deserves. Perhaps because, again, it becomes difficult for those under the influence of weed to listen to anyone telling them that they are actually intoxicated and out of their mind. No more than you can convince a mad person that they are mad. Remember we are the same society that was found and declared over 30% with mental disorders and illness.
Is Omutume warning us that these days you might need to move around with a lab test kit if you are to take anything from a flask in public or drink at a gathering? Otherwise, how do we know there is, or isn’t a little weed in that drink you are sipping right now? Could he actually be sounding a gong to awaken an opiated and continuously high society that constantly pursues “the vibe” and pleasure, even in the presence of neighbours’ and national tragedy? But how do you even escape the constantly flowing supply of the weed-spiced tea of one distraction after another in Uganda. Before you finish what’s in the cup, the mercenaries are committed to topping up for you with another public scandal ⎯and just won’t let you take a break, else you sober up!
But wait, what if it’s just me, or the Omutume who are high, and not the whole public? The truth is that we all live and act under the influence of something. It can be greed, lies, love, politics, religion, anger and revenge, pride, ignorance or knowledge, or weed. Or as some will claim, “the spirits” (either the evil or the Holy). Hopefully, not a combination! To a very worrying extent, majority of us Ugandans seem to be under the influence of something not only mind-altering, but even worse heart-altering or numbing like Kyayi w’enjaaye! Focused on the self and vibe, the next shot of social or digital intoxicant is more exciting than any prompt for horizontal or even more importantly, vertical awareness of reality. It has become extremely difficult to imagine ourselves loving God with all self, or loving neighbour as self ⎯ else we kill the vibe. Fear of killing the vibe grips us so tightly, as though its death means our own death! Difficult as it may be in our circumstances, at some point one has to intentionally choose soberness. But sober from what? And, for what?
“To a very worrying extent, majority of us Ugandans seem to be under the influence of something not only mind-altering, but even worse heart-altering or numbing like Kyayi w’enjaaye!”
“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart,..”
Ephesians 5:15-19
~ Raymond L. Bukenya ~
Speaker & Director Tru Tangazo Uganda