‘The best way to effect change is through music’

Zambian rapper and human rights activist Samuel Miyoba, known by his stage name Smack Jay, believes that a country’s music reveals a lot about its character and culture.

He is visiting Northern Ireland in partnership with the peacebuilding charity Beyond Skin and its Zambian partner organisation OpenNet 40.

Smack Jay uses music to promote hope and advocate for social change, and has been collaborating with local artists in Belfast.

“If you want something to change, music is one of the best tools for advocacy,” he said.

On Friday, he conducted workshops at Rathcoole Primary School in north Belfast, performing songs that carried powerful messages.

His lyrics highlight the fight for fundamental rights, such as education and access to food and water, by young people in Zambia.

The broader messages, however, are not so distant from some of the debates in Northern Ireland’s society today.

Smack Jay asked a class of children: “What is your race?”

The pupils respond with a variety of answers: British; Northern Irish; White.

He challenges the latter.

“Am I black?” he asks.

“No, I’m kind of brown.”

“Are you white?”

“You’re more of a peach colour” he said, and the children began checking their hands.

Identity, he tells them, is often “more personal” than the collective ideas that are known and understood.

The rapper also read from The Children’s Code – a landmark law passed by Zambia’s parliament in 2022 which the government said has transformed education in the country.

It was the first time children’s rights had been formally codified in Zambia.

“You have the right to education, to freedom of expression. You have the right to a name and a national identity,” the rapper read to the class.

The chorus of one of Smack Jay’s songs features the mantra: “I know my rights.”

During the workshop at Rathcoole Primary, he got the children involved, encouraging them to stand and join in as he raps into the microphone.

He told BBC News NI: “We can only move forward if the young ones come with even better ideas.

“If they come with bad ideas, they will cut ties with the good people around them, so it’s really important that drug abuse and other things are fought seriously.”

In June, Smack Jay was a special guest at the Refugee Picnic, an event hosted by Belfast City of Sanctuary, the outreach group for migrants and asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.

“I met fellow Africans from Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, Sudan and many other countries,” he said.

“The way these people have been welcomed in Northern Ireland proved how important it is to care for one another.

“I’ve built relationships with rap artists in Northern Ireland and I find them very welcoming.

“If we try to advocate more on peaceful issues through music, we are really going to get it right.”