Andy Brown, R.I.P Fellow Comrade.

This week, one of Zimbabwe's finest musicians succumbed to pneumonia. Andy Brown made a name for himself with the 80s Afro-Pop group Ilanga, and then went onto further fame as a solo musician. Starting in the 90s, he also began to be known for his very vocal support of the policies of Zanu-pf, Zimbabwe's ruling party. Now let me digress here a little bit: supporting the  policies and the ideals of Zanu-pf does not mean, in any way, that one is a party stooge who parrots all the ruling party mantras. It simply means that one realises the economic and racial injustices that dedevil Zimbabwe; that one acknowledges the role played by Zanu and Zapu in liberating Zimbabwe from colonial slavery; and that one supports the ideals and aims of the Liberation Struggle (land-reform, equity, education, health-care, racial-harmony etc).

For all of Andy Brown's support of the ideals mentioned above, he was vilified by a large section of Zimbabweans. In his death, some of the comments coming out of the mouths of his fellow Zimbabweans have been  scathing, to say the least. What poor, old Andy ever did to to deserve this venom, no one knows. It's now become perilous, even heresy amongst a large section of Zimbabweans, to even espouse ideals that are in tandem with those of our Liberation Struggle. To do so is to invite ridicule, even violence. Such is the time we Zimbabweans live in.

If only people would step back a little, like the late Andy Brown, and note that 4000 white, commercial-farmers cannot continue to own 83% of Zimbabwe's arable land; or that Zimbabwe -- with $2.5 trillion in mineral-resources under its ground -- cannot be content with getting a paltry $190 million in royalties per year from Western mining companies, for all the resources they cart out of Zimbabwe

We need to think about these things, and our late comrade Andy Brown, did indeed think and articulate his thought on these issues. May his soul forever rest in peace.

Steve Jobs: Picking His Brain

Folks:  about three weeks ago I went to see a movie about Steve Jobs, called "Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview".  It wasn't a movie at all, but an interview done by a British team, around the time after Steve Jobs had been kicked out of Apple -- the company he had co-founded -- in 1985. For me, this was a great chance to pick his brain. I recorded much of his statements on my smartphone and I've reproduced some of his insights below. This man was a genius, and his musings need to be carefully noted. Some of the interview footage also appeared in the '96 PBS documentary, "The Triumph  of The Nerds".
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Steve Jobs ~ "I think everyone should learn how to write [computer] code, because it teaches you how to think."

Steve Jobs ~ "We at Apple brought a Liberal Arts atmosphere to computer science by seeking out the best in all fields."

Steve Jobs ~ "I'll have to say, I'm a hippie and not a nerd!"

Steve Jobs [himself quoting Picasso] ~ "Great artists copy; great artists steal!"

Steve Jobs ~ "Human beings are toolbuilders and we can build tools that amplify our innate capabilities."

Steve Jobs ~ "The way to ratchet up the species is to take the best of everything [from everyone] and spread it as widely as possible."

Steve Jobs ~ "The problem with Microsoft is that they have absolutely no taste! And their products have no spirit to them."

Steve Jobs [commenting on ex-Apple CEO, John Scully] ~ "He got onto a rocket-ship that was about to take off, began to believe that he had designed the rocket-ship himself, and then changed its trajectory, causing it to crash!"

Steve Jobs ~ "In software, the difference between average and best is 50-1, as opposed to 2-1 in other fields."

Steve Jobs ~ "Xerox [the printer-company responsible for many earlier computing breakthroughs] could have owned the computer-industry, had the product-people been in charge and not the salesmen and marketeers."
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Socrates, Cesaria Evora, Christopher Hitchens ~ Bidding Adieu

In the past fortnight, three people whom I admire greatly, departed this Earth to join the ancestors. It's in times like these that you have to think of your own mortality. I grew up watching the football wizardry of Socrates; in College, I was lulled to sleep poring over the commentaries of Christopher Hitchens; and later on, I became mesmerised by the music of Cesaria Evora, the Cape Verdean "barefoot diva". Now, they've all left us, and in quick succession too. It is indeed true: only God knows what lies in store for us; we can never really be the total masters of our destinies. Those who think otherwise are deluding themselves.
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Socrates ~ the death of the great Brazilians midfielder of the 80s came as a total shock. That he died from complications from cirrhosis of the liver was even more shocking. If you've never seen the Brazilian football team from the 80s, then you've never lived! Zico, Cerezo, Falcao, Alemao, Junior and the majestic Socrates himself, orchestrating the play in midfield. Pure magic! In my opinion, this was the best football team ever to be assembled.

They turned the game of football -- the beautiful game (jogo bonito) as Brazilians call it -- into an art-form, a living opera. And then there was Socrates: a tall, lanky midfielder; a creative genius; and somewhat of an intellectual to boot. On top of that, he was a trained doctor, who had a chain-smoking habit! What a player! What a character! May his soul forever rest in peace. 
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Christopher Hitchens ~ His death was not unexpected, but it still saddens me to see him go.  He was probably the best rhetorician the Western World has seen since the time of the Ancient Greeks. In any verbal spar he was unbeatable. Like a lion stalking an impala, he would seize upon  his "prey", set them up, and then destroy them to pieces with facts and iron-clad logic. A terrific genius! It will be a millennium before the Western World sees the emergence of such a great verbal practitioner like him.
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Cesaria Evora ~ I woke up on Sat morning and read of her tragic death. I instantly collapsed into a heap on my living-room couch. I just couldn't believe it! Her music was pure magic. She truly did capture the spirit of the Cape Verdean people (and it's large diaspora).

 Like most people, I wasn't aware of her music until about the early 90s. Once I had heard her haunting voice, I was addicted! "Angola", "Petit Pays" and her duet with Salif Keita, "Yamore" are my favourite songs. A great musician, she shall be sorely missed.