Prominent Nigerian singer Damini Ogulu, better known as Burna Boy, has opened up about his admiration for the late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gaddafi.
Burna Boy explained why he holds the late Libyan revolutionary leader in hig regard during a recent interview with Lanre Bakare of Guardian UK.
The duo spoke on issues bordering from racial prejudice, unification of African nations (Pan-Africanism), and why the singer has more presence in the UK than the US.
In turn, an intrigued Lanre Bakare details his discoveries of Burna Boy’s unified idea of Africa in an article published on the british newspaper’s website.
Excerpts from the article reads:
“In past interviews, Burna Boy regularly raises the idea of pan-Africanism: that unity on the continent is the way for it to thrive. The movement grew up at the end of the colonial era, and saw a collective push to oppose apartheid and resist imperialism.
“It’s hardly a new concept, but it’s rare to hear it discussed by a pop star, so I’m intrigued to find out where he pulls his influences from: is it Fela, Patrice Lumumba, the elected leader of the Democratic Republic of the Congo who was in 1961 with help from the Belgian government, or his parents?
“There’s a pause, and then he answers.
“Muammar Gaddafi,” he says, leaning into the camera. Wait, what? Seriously? What about the global exportation of terrorism, the four-decade brutal reign in which dissent was squashed, often violently. “How do you know that?”
“Burna shoots back. “Because that was the agenda that was pushed, and that was the news that was pushed in your face?”
On why his music is more popular among Britons than Americans, Burna Boy had this to say:
“Most of the people from the UK, if not all the black people from the UK, and the people of colour – they all know where they’re from. They know exactly where their roots are.
“Unfortunately, the brothers in the US have been stripped of their whole knowledge of self. So it’s a bit harder for them, you know?”
Read the full article that spawned from Lanre Bakare’s rich conversation with Burna Boy on The Guardian.
