AZAGAIA ''BABALAZE'' (MOZAMBIQUE,2009) @ [192k]

AZAGAIA

''BABALAZE''

(MOZAMBIQUE, 2009) @

Mozambique:City authorities called rapper in for questioning The rap artist Azagaia was summoned before prosecutors to explain the allegedly violent lyrics of a song he has written about the February 2008 riots in Maputo "The shadow of censorship has fallen across the Mozambican musical world, " writes Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique's Paul Fauvet from Maputo.

According to a report he read in Friday's issue of the independent new sheet Mediafax, the rapper Azagaia (real name: Edson da Luz) appeared for questioning at the Maputo City attorney's office on 30 April 2008.

"Accompanied by Alice Mabota, chairperson of the Mozambican Human Rights League, he was grilled for an hour and a half about his song 'Povo no Poder' ('People in Power').

The prosecutor wanted to know: had he written the song? What was the purpose of the song?

And did he not think that the lyrics would incite people to violence?"

'Povo no Poder' is a panegyric on the Maputo riots of 5 February 2008, when angry mobs took control of the city streets in protest at a rise of up to 50 per cent in the fares

charged by the private minibuses that provide much of the capital's passenger transport.

The song starts with the words:

"We're not falling for the old story any moreWe're going out to fight against the scumThe thieves, the corruptShout with me for these people to get outShout with me because the people are no longer weeping"............................

"We're barricading the streetsWe're stopping these busesHere nobody passesEven the shops are closedIf the police are violentWe respond with violence"