Flattery, Deceit, and Satire
A number of interpreters connect the lyrics of “Fair-Skinned” to current political and personal contexts via the themes of flattery, deceit, and satire. Their comments reshape how we might relate the past and the present more broadly. Harriet Kisuule’s interpretation of “Fair-Skinned,” focusing on flattery, emphasizes the importance of maintaining a sturdy sense of self that can endure the opinions and criticism of others:
The song and its initial context demonstrate that when people blindly believe in what others tell them about themselves, it can often cause problems. People should take flattery with a grain of salt. If someone claims that another person is particularly good in a certain area, it benefits the latter to personally reflect on whether they possess the qualities mentioned before they accept the praise.
1Kisuule interview, December 21, 2019.Kisuule illuminates how vanity and its associated problems imply notions of ignorance and wisdom. She reminds us to only cautiously accept the words of others with caution and encourages us, instead, to recognize those qualities for ourselves.
Kisuule explores this point even further by applying this individual praxis to leadership in a macropolitical context:
Is it true what they say about me? Know who you are and do not accept being misled by others. Accept who you are, the way you were created, so that you can better understand and overcome any challenges set before you. One time, President Museveni blocked the current King Mutebi II’s tour of Kayunga district. Because of the widespread support for the king, it is likely that he could have secured some form of access to the area anyway, but he accepted the amount of control Museveni had over the situation and decided to back down for the sake of peace. He also considered the number of lives that would have been lost because of the tension between the Buganda and central governments. Like the king, Ugandan leaders should know their limits and responsibilities.
2Ibid.This commentary bridges the gap between the micropolitical and the macropolitical and connects the past with the present. In the first case, Kisuule shows us how personal decision-making connects to politics at large by exploring how one’s aversion to flattery manifests itself in national events, as with King Mutebi II’s hesitancy to tour Kayunga. This demonstrates how the capacity of leaders to make measured, patient decisions will allow them to respond better to crises of leadership. Remaining clear-sighted in one’s personal life will ensure they do so on a larger stage as well.
Steven Mukasa Kabugo relates “Fair-Skinned” to more intimate atmospheres, focusing on the impact of flattery and deceit on the lives of common people. According to him,
Musicians have often used the lyric “Fair-Skinned’s handsomeness prevented him from growing tall, Fair-Skinned”
to soothe the nervousness of uncommonly short brides in Buganda and help build up their self-esteem before the wedding. Wedding performers couple this lyric with a variety of proverbs or sayings that appeal to the self-conscious women in order to reassure them that they hold value in the eyes of men and society in general. Such sayings include
Ssekaswa akampi kaava enswa empanvu (The short white ant produced tall ones),
Omubi akira ebbanga (An ugly person is better than none), and
Omumpi takaddiwa; takootakoota (A short person does not grow old; she does not stoop). The general message of these sayings is that a woman should not fear being disrespected due to any faults in her appearance, whether being short, ugly, or cross-eyed, as was the case with King Ssuuna II. She should remember that society judges women on their ability to be good wives and mothers and generally believes that women who possess physical faults tend to be better spouses.
3Kabugo interview, December 19, 2019.Whereas the previous analysis of “Fair-Skinned” connects the micro- and macropolitical realms, Kabugo’s interpretation of its use in a wedding context suggests that songs can be applied to realms outside the court setting. In this case, the song’s use in the wedding is itself a moment of reinterpretation. Wedding performers provide brides-to-be with the idea that their physical appearances matter less as long as they are good mothers and wives. This framing flips the meaning of the song away from physical appearance entirely. Just as the previous commentaries have focused on flattery in terms of service as a leader, Kabugo’s commentary focuses on the importance of service as a mother. In this way, “Fair-Skinned” undergoes a layered process of reading to serve the needs of those who seek to embrace it.
Jimmy Ssenfuka Kibirige’s commentary takes a different tack, speaking to the ways people tune (as with instruments) the qualities and insecurities of their leaders to ensure the best experience for all.
Flattery and deceit were two major problems in precolonial Buganda. Part of the reason they were so rampant was the linear inheritance of the crown. It was impossible for all the kings in line to be perfectly fit for leadership, meaning that they would often fall for flattery to ease their own insecurities about their rule. In Ssuuna II’s case, his insecurities were about his appearance, though of course there is no correlation between appearance and leadership ability. He was more focused on his appearance than he was on being a good leader. So at the end of the day, the musicians lied to him and told him that it was his beautiful skin that had made him shorter. They simply told him what they believed he wanted to hear. But no leader can be perfect. Between charisma, looks, and the ability to effectively serve, there is always at least one area where a leader is lacking.
4Kibirige interview, December 19, 2019.Kibirige shows how assuaging Ssuuna II was like “re-tuning” him so that he could shift his focus to maintaining Buganda’s prosperity. This point reminds us of the song “The Handsome Catch a Slight Squint” (discussed in the previous chapter), reviving the notion that leaders are always imperfect, so others must support them if they are to succeed. Again, Ssuuna II’s musicians knew that calming his insecurities would help him focus on leading. This constant pursuit to overcome our fixations and pursue mutuality continues to be crucial to leadership today, as we still wrestle with our fantasies of individual perfection and self-sufficiency. Kibirige’s interpretation allows us to understand how we might interpret the content of the musicians’ song as well-intentioned, because they prioritize the welfare of the kingdom by extinguishing the king’s emotional blockage.
Kibirige further produces an alternative to his previous thoughts, illustrating the ways in which musicians reapply these actions to satisfy themselves. Drawing parallels between the song “Fair-Skinned” and the Ugandan politician Full Figure, he explains how Full Figure used flattery to gain power for herself while allegedly feeding President Museveni’s ego:
Those who are close to President Museveni and eat off his proverbial plate lack the ability to serve effectively as civil servants because they only do what Museveni tells them to. More than this, they switch sides to whoever suits their needs the most. For example, the politician Full Figure, who originally worked for the People Power Movement campaign, quickly changed her tune and began working for Museveni instead. She even stole the movement’s titular slogan, “People Power,” and reclaimed it as a part of Museveni’s image due to his time as a guerrilla liberator in the bush (the Ugandan Bush War). Her desire for more personal gain purely drove her decision to change sides. Museveni has now become her “fair-skinned” and indeed is in much the same situation as Ssuuna II. Both are too focused on themselves and not on their country. Museveni expects great praise for meeting the bare minimum requirements for his job, such as constructing roads or ensuring that all Ugandans have healthcare access. He is comparable to parents who refuse to pay for their children’s schooling despite its being their responsibility to provide for them. It would be ridiculous to assume that it is the children’s responsibility to find money to pay their tuition. Moreover, the fact that parents are paying for their children’s school does not give them the right to treat them poorly or make them toil for the school dues. In other words, power and responsibility should not be a free check for oppression and extortion.
5Ibid.Kibirige’s view here does not contradict his previous one. Instead, it functions as an embodiment of the song’s own message. It demonstrates two perspectives that conflict but serve as amplifications of each other: they could not have the same impact if their counterpart did not exist. Kibirige’s analysis cannot be as nuanced and valuable as it stands if it is deprived of one of these views, as without one or the other, he would have a merely one-sided conception of the song. As suggested in the previous part of the book, differences and contradictions in history and interpretations of history, though appearing troublesome on the surface, present an important opportunity for further learning. For instance, Kibirige’s multiple perspectives on “Fair-Skinned” are as much an indicator of his own wariness of the current national leadership in Uganda as it is a commentary on Ssuuna II.
As noted in chapter 1, Michel Foucault has written that those who study history must recognize that there is inherent value within a historian’s personal biases and the discontinuities that may arise from them because they can provide insight into societal norms and expectations of the time.
6Foucault 1977, 157. In other words, the past shapes the present by setting the limits, preexisting conditions, and general possibilities for present action. However, Sarah Politz reminds us that the present can also distort the past by selecting from public memory the details that align best with the current regime of knowledge.
7Politz 2018, 30. This process is evident in Kibirige’s elaboration on how some current leaders are similar to Ssuuna II. As he demonstrates, flattery, deceit, and manipulation are all barriers standing in the way of those leaders’ fully accepting their imperfections.
In his interpretation of “Fair-Skinned,” Jessy Ssendawula expands on Kibirige’s thoughts about deceit within the song by providing a modern example of a satirical song that performers have used to express the failings of President Museveni. He sings,
“Dear Museveni, we are happy to receive you here in Gulu.
The education is poor, communication is poor.
There are no more virgins in Gulu.
They were all raped by Kony.
But all the same we are happy.”
8Ssendawula interview, December 28, 2019.The composer of these lyrics employs tactics similar to those featured in “Fair-Skinned” to address the recent civil war in northern Uganda (Kony was the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels). Moreover, other examples of contemporary Ugandan popular songs that Ssendawula provides further reveal how the methods of the past have come to life in the present, mirroring the approach of “Fair-Skinned”:
Such bitter satires bring to light the challenges of the community, just like popular music artist Ronald Mayinja’s song “They [the issues that took you to the bush to fight] Are Repeating Themselves” (“Bizzeemu”) and the popular music artist Eddy Kenzo’s song “I Am Fed Up with Them” (“Mbakooye”). While “Fair-Skinned” used false praise to critique the king with sarcasm, these songs directly criticize the government. The composers and performers of “Fair-Skinned” designed the song to encourage the king to reward them. In this aspect, it is similar to the joint popular music artist song “We Stand with You” (“Tubonga Naawe”), which praised President Museveni during the 2015 presidential campaigns. Some of the musicians featured in the song were not in support of Museveni but wanted to flatter him into paying them. It is important for leaders to pay attention to the voices of musicians and learn to reflect on the tone behind their singing. If they misjudge the tone, they may miss learning about the problems afflicting society or their own personal weaknesses. Instead of fighting Bobi Wine and other popular music artists, Ugandan leaders could study the messages in their songs: “The Amount of Sugar Is Just Right” (“Kassukaali Ke Ko”), “Officer, I Do Not Fight with You” (“Afande Sirwana Naawe”), “Get Up” (“Situka”), “Freedom” (“Ddembe”), “Hand Him Over to Kyagulanyi” (“Mukwase Kyagulanyi”), and “We Shall Wear the Crown” (“Tuliyambala Engule”), all by Bobi Wine.
9Ibid.Ssendawula explains how songs like these serve a dual purpose, bringing to light the problems of the community while also encouraging the leader to reward the musicians for their criticism disguised as praise. In his commentary we see how we cannot make sense of meaning through a single narrative. Instead, we must imagine it in terms of a fabric of competing narratives that intersect to create a dense, sometimes contradictory, web of shifting meanings.
Peter Kinene’s interpretation of “Fair-Skinned” elaborates on the negative consequences of trusting the flattery of others in the modern age. While evoking some of Kibirige’s thoughts about being wary of flattery, he also explores the dual meanings that such praise could hold:
Folks should be wary of people who constantly try to flatter them, as it is those people who are most likely to cause them problems. They may offer undue or insincere praise, causing the people they praise to believe that they are something they are not. They may build someone up only to watch them fall and delight in their failure, such as the men who attempted to assassinate King Kayemba (ca. 1690–1704) with a clay boat.
10For the clay boat reference, see the song “Unadvisable Kayemba,” discussed in chapter 9. Therefore, it is best for people to be prudent and remain cautious of those who flatter them extensively. Even if such people are not trying to cause those they praise to fail, at the very least they are likely only looking out for the personal gains they can get from their actions. They praise people hoping that they will reward them without considering any of the consequences. Moreover, people do not always act in a way that reflects how they feel, especially when it comes to happiness. Those who are quick to laugh and praise others are not necessarily in agreement with them; they could easily be acting sarcastically or ironically. It is therefore important to question the motivations behind their actions to determine if they are genuine or not. People can smile at the faces of those they praise while planning their downfall in the same breath.
11Kinene interview, December 16, 2019.According to Kinene, these dual meanings are not necessarily dishonest, but they could be misleading if one does not consider them thoughtfully. On this point he emphasizes the importance of recognizing subtlety in expressions, such as satire. That is, he provides a more meta-level perspective on the song that reveals how language and meaning often exceed linear understanding. He shows us that the sarcasm and irony hidden in a statement are not just the meaning of that statement but are a meaning, constituting no more than a piece of the multitudinous possibilities that we have yet to create.