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 The new video
https://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=06YbY1MLp4A marks
a sudden change for the collective, named 'Enough is Enough' in
French slang, which has a history of challenging authority,
fighting social injustice - and urging Senegal's younth to hit
the streets to protest the government.
But when African countries confirmed their first coronavirus
cases this month, the group offered to help the government
persuade people to take the disease seriously, in an effort to
stop it ripping through Africa as it has through China, Europe
and America, killing thousands.
"As soon as we saw that things were going from bad to worse, we
went to see the health ministry," said Y'en a Marre's Malal
Talla, whose rapper alias translates as Sick Mad Man.
"We wanted to contribute how we could," Talla said at the
group's headquarters in the crowded working class Dakar suburb
of Guediawaye, where they work to support disadvantaged youth.
Senegal declared a state of emergency on Monday and imposed a
curfew in response to the pandemic. It has confirmed over 80
cases, making it the second-worst affected country in West
Africa after Burkina Faso.
After hearing Y'en a Marre's song, the health ministry allowed
the group to film its video in one of the capital's main
hospitals, where they posed as laboratory technicians, rapping
as they examined test tubes and peered down microscopes.
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"Prevention is better than treatment. The world is in distress," the
chorus intones, its plucked accompaniment giving the track a
distinctive West African lilt.
The video has attracted thousands of views and likes on social media
since its release last Thursday.
West Africa has long raised public health awareness through song. In
2014, musical heavyweights such as Salif Keita banded together to
release 'Africa Stop Ebola' in the face of the epidemic that killed
over 11,300.
Sitting in a courtyard painted with murals of black icons such as
Nelson Mandela and Angela Davis, Talla said music had a vital role
to play.
"In Africa, music is not the art of combining sounds," he said.
"It's not just for dancing and jumping, it's also a way one can
raise awareness with joy."
(Reporting by Estelle Ndjandjo and Christophe Van der Perre; Writing
by Alessandra Prentice; Editing by Edward McAllister and Alexandra
Hudson)
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