My grandmother used to tell me, “It’s music and culture that’s gonna save you’all, or it’s the politics and quarrelin’ and always ready for war that’ll eventually kill all ya’ll.. You mark my words, boy!
As many of you know by now, singer-songwriter Dolly Parton died last week at 80 years old. She lived a full life. In fact, her life and her death are another solid reminder that individuals of heart and talent, accumulated, are what will eventually lead us all to whatever higher ground and brighter lights await us. Not politics, not money, not religion: heart.
Besides writing (and many times recording) over 3,000 registered songs, including Whitney Houston’s number one most popular song, “I’ll Always Love You,” Dolly Parton was really a seriously popular figure in her own right.
Interestingly, she was, and still is, extremely popular in Africa, particularly South Africa and Kenya.
She is well remembered by ANC (African National Congress) veterans in South Africa for songs like “Jolene”, which national hero Nelson Mandela said he often sang while in Afrikaner prison. Its haunting quality captured an essence of prison life for him. Nairobi, Kenya, residents in East Africa have also reportedly acknowledged Parton as a poet and songstress who seemed to understand the hope of millions to be free and productive.
According to writers in the field, in East Africa, and in South Africa particularly, African people are quietly grieving and showing respect for a country music icon long thought to be a translucent artist who understood the greater struggles beyond her own group. Dolly Parton is remembered for having written and sung “about poverty, family, faith, work and holding on, and those themes carried easily across borders and oceans.” In Kenya and far beyond, people loved her for her ambition, her humor, her sharp business sense, and the fact that she never once forgot where she came from.
It may be a surprising fact of life for many of us, but great music that has real heart knows no particular color or culture. The music of Aretha, Whitney, Michael, and Afrobeats artists, along with a handful of others, still defy language, country, and cultural borders.
Current reporting clearly documents that, for decades now, listeners in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, for example, have followed American country artists like Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers and have regularly requested their songs on radio and playbills. Dolly Parton’s songs–in life and death–have traveled way beyond the Smoky Mountains from whence she came and will continue to inspire long after her quiet death. We would all hope for a life of impact and influence like that.
The song, “Coat of Many Colors,” according to live reporting in Africa, remains one of the most popular songs ever on the continent, particularly with African women. It is a Pan-African gathering to behold when the crowd bursts out in unison singing it. Thank you, grandma.
