Zongoman Out With "Lootocracy"

Reggae musician Ali Nasamu, alias Zongoman, on Friday launched in Accra, a second musical album, condemning the abuse of power and corruption in Africa's political circles. The 40-year-old London based dreadlock artiste threw his audience into boogieing as numbers on the album with the title track "Lootocracy" were played. He had coined the term "lootocracy" to describe the looting of state resources by unscrupulous political administrators to the detriment of and at the expense of the poor. Born in Accra and raised in Northern Ghana, the artiste, a native of Wa, the capital of the Upper West Region fused his childhood experience, political upheavals in post independent modern Ghana and his travels abroad in the album, which has 13 songs in all. Some of the songs are: “Babylon Intro”, “Watch and Pray”, “Holy Land and Adam's Will”, “Yahoo Lootocacry”, and “Babylon Throne Gone Down”. Other songs: "Singolingo", "Out of Control" and "Strangulation Adjustment Programme" have dub versions. He sang "Bawaa” in the native Wali language of the Wa area of the Upper West Region. Nasamu in an interview with the Ghana News Agency expressed much worry about the abuse of political power and malfeasance, which had plunged a number of African countries into the depths of poverty. Much as he would not enter into active politics, Nasamu agreed that politics was inseparably linked with music and the musician was the voice of the voiceless; he would continue to use music to offer constructive criticisms and keep politicians on their toes.