Chaka Chaka switches gears to advocacy

She was the first South African singer to break through to the international stage, and a series of golden hits cemented her international fame. But now, Yvonne Chaka Chaka has taken full control of her career and steering it in directions unthinkable. Her song ‘Thank you, Mr DJ,’ ‘Umqombothi’ and ‘I’m burning up’ endeared her […]

She was the first South African singer to break through to the international stage, and a series of golden hits cemented her international fame.

But now, Yvonne Chaka Chaka has taken full control of her career and steering it in directions unthinkable.

Her song ‘Thank you, Mr DJ,’ ‘Umqombothi’ and ‘I’m burning up’ endeared her to children growing in Nigeria in the 80s onwards, and then she seemed to fade into their memories.

But she remained popular in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Gabon, Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone.

“I haven’t stopped recording,” Yvonne told Weekend Magazine.

“My music is still there, but I have just made sure it doesn’t go to certain countries unfortunately, because of piracy.

 “I do live shows all over the world. I have just used my music to do the advocacy work I’m doing as UNICEF, Roll Back Malaria ambassador for the last 12 years. I’m using my voice as a musician to do advocacy work.”

Yvonne showed up mid-May in Copenhagen to perform at the opening ceremony of the Women Deliver Conference on Sustainable Development Goals.

Advocacy work has put her firmly in development work. She’s been named champion for the Global Fund and also was the United Nations Millenium Development Goals envoy for Africa.

As the MDGs rolled out to be replaced by the Sustainable Development Goals, Yvonne’s advocacy is pushing toward women inclusion.

She was on hand to perform at the conference’s closing ceremony and called it a “great, great platform, because you have got men and women in this conference and it is a good thing.”

“The fact that I’m being interviewed by you, a man, it shows that we do have men with a conscience, men who are thinking and men who do believe in women,” said Chaka Chaka.

“Because I think if all men knew they were brought into this world by a woman, there would not be any abuse.”

The Princess of Pop, as she’s been known in her home country, goes on: “I really think that it is good we had MDGs and now we are having SDGs. It is important that we all adhere to them and make sure we walk the talk. We make sure that the people, down from the ground, know about them, we practise them and we do what policymakers and those in the hierarchy are talking about.”

She describes herself as “very, very optimistic” about the SDGs, bobbing positively even before the question is out.

“MDGs were just saying, these are the problems we have. Now the SDGs, for me, are saying, they need to be sustainable and they are inclusive of everything and every country, and they are for the people, so everybody is included here,” said Chaka Chaka.

“It is up to us as a people, as countries, as government, civil society, businesspeople, ordinary people to come together to say, how do we work together to make people’s lives better?  Because there is no health or wealth without education.”