Yes He Fought, But Can Sundaygar Dearboy Ever Recover from The Bad Publicity?O       1             1940 - 11112008f- Two- Soccer Legends

Wednesday, January 07, 2009

    By Tewroh-Wehtoe Sungbeh

     I said to myself “I will never listen to his music or see him perform in concert” after I heard the insulting and degrading song, “Lord, Lord, Have Mercy on Sundaygar Dearboy” about Liberian women the singer wrote and recorded, and was even more disgusted after it was revealed that he participated in the civil war and perhaps maimed, raped, sodomized and killed countless Liberians over a period of time for being who they are, and for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

     It was a decision I was reluctant to make because of the man’s awesome talent as a remarkably gifted singer and song writer, and for coming into our hearts at a time when Liberians needed to get away from the self-pitying attitude brought on by the civil war that destroyed their hopes, dreams, their homes and families, reducing some to beggars at home and in countries around the globe.

     I did not attend Sundaygar Dearboy’s first concert in Atlanta because of the issues I listed above but ate my words later after my wife convinced me that we attend his second concert together (after a friend sold her couple of tickets) to see new gospel singer, Baryoe Kieh, whom my wife really wanted to see live in concert on this day that included Dearboy and some female dancers who traveled along with him to the United States and Europe at the end of 2008.                                                 

                                         Musician Sundaygar Dearboy

     Unlike the first concert that attracted record number of Liberians from all over the place who were enthusiastic about seeing Sundaygar Dearboy perform and were willing to pay their last dollar to see him in person, the concert I attended with my wife was flat and poorly attended despite the fact that Dearboy was accompanied on his overseas tour by those four very attractive female dancers together with Evangelist Kieh, who did not disappoint her fan with her signature song, “Zuo-po,” a song the audience did not get enough of and wanted the electrifying performer to sing over and over.

     The poor attendance during the Atlanta concert could be attributed to many factors: Poor publicity and lack of skilled public relations coordinator, inexperienced and untrained promoters and managers, a possible Sundaygar fatigue, and Sundaygar Dearboy’s recent acknowledgement before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he was indeed a rebel fighter in the notorious Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia rag tag militia that destroyed the country and slaughtered hundreds and thousands of Liberians during his so-called war to liberate Liberia.  

     The latter can end a career because of the callous and bloodletting nature of the rebels who had no mercy for their innocent victims and wanted to see them dead, broke or physically disabled, in a country where there are no victim’s rights or opportunities that allows the victims to be productive in society.

     And like their godfather, Charles Taylor, the thugs actually reduced their victims to beggars, handicap Liberians and dead bodies, and left the Liberian nation a dysfunctional failed state and ghost town, after Sundaygar Dearboy and his gun-toting allies finally turned the nation over to the rightful owners, the Liberian people.

    After the war finally ended years ago, Sundaygar Dearboy, aka Michael Davis was outed by David Saiware, who accused the former rebel fighter-turned musician of ordering 25 NPFL fighters to rape his 16-year old sister Rita in 1994, in Gardour, Grand Bassa County. Rita would later died from injuries she sustained from the ganged rape.

     As expected, Sundaygar Dearboy denied the charges and claimed he never ‘fired a gun nor killed a chicken,’ but later admitted during an interview with the Voice of America (VOA) in 2007, that he was indeed a former rebel fighter who reportedly was forcefully recruited in 1992 by the NPFL, when he was searching for his girlfriend in Grand Bassa County.

     Sundaygar Dearboy’s ordeal is a special case that deserves our collective attention because of the person who’s being accused of this horrendous crime against humanity. Had he not being a celebrity from poor and humble beginnings, the individual would have been seen as just another indiscipline and opportunistic rebel without a cause – a thug who did not understand what he was getting into but got onboard anyway when he saw others joined to be part of something, which is not an excuse for behaving badly as was the case with “Colonel” Sundaygar Dearboy, who commanded nine rebel fighters at the time.

     There is no way to tell why a guy with so much talent and potential would detour to reach such a low and bloody point in his life to take the lives of others, or command his followers to allegedly rape and kill his victims, only to re-invent himself years later as a singing sensation.

     Whatever he did to change his life around surely worked because Sundaygar Dearboy’s appeal crossed ethnic, political and religious lines making his name a household name, and his music almost a national anthem in homes, vehicles and at social events. However, the question that remains to be answered is whether he can ever recover from the bad press that has engulfed him after he first denied that he was a rebel fighter, and reluctantly admitted later his involvement in an unpopular and deadly civil war that is still etched in the memories of Liberians for the pain it caused them.

     While his spectacular rise to fame and perhaps fortune is admirable in a sense, it is also tormenting to others whose loved one’s death can be attributed to Sundaygar Dearboy’s admitted role in the civil war. These individuals, who understandably have no compassion for the man would like to see him fried and put to death, but cannot because of the never-ending theatrics of the hapless Truth and Reconciliation Commission masquerading as a genuine peacemaking entity seeking truth to let bygones be bygones.

     It is indeed unfortunate that Sundaygar Dearboy actually played a role in the civil war. No doubt about it, the young man is a bona fide performer or superstar, as some would say who should have stuck to his music to bring joy to the lives of Liberians and not use his AK47 to bring pain and tears to Liberians. While I may be unhappy with his war past and his degrading music about Liberian women, I must acknowledge publicly that he is a gifted artist among artists in Liberia.

      As a regular critic of Liberian musicians many of whom are not impressive at all because of their obvious lack of originality, creativity and song-writing skills, which is obvious in the musicians’ childish and comical interpretation or performance of playground songs such as “koko leo ko, koko leo ko; are more sarkay sarrr; we yar we yar sanie clau we yar; I was passing by my mother say to me you better take time in life,” that those musicians often record as serious songs sang by serious artists, revealed why the advent of Sundaygar Dearboy on the musical scene is a welcome relief that resonated with most Liberians.

      Other than “Lord, Lord, Have Mercy on Sundaygar Dearboy,” a song I wrote about and publicly criticized on this page in 2008, for its meanness, sexism and anti-Liberian women sentiments, the artist’s fondness for writing his own songs from scratch, and proudly performing in a Liberian dialect - his native Bassa dialect with such enthusiasm won me over, and actually put a little bright spot on Liberian music. It also tells us all that Liberian artists out there should use their creative energies and little efforts to match their determination to become the artists they want to be by writing their own songs, and not shamelessly copy and recycle old playground songs some of us grew up listening to as kids.

     With a singing career reaching the stratosphere like a supersonic jet in terms of success but with nagging distractions, Sundaygar Dearboy is doing what most people whose hands are caught in the cookie jar would do to save their souls and their careers just to remain relevant and vibrant. The danger is that such a strategy often backs fire because it is rooted in naked arrogance, cover-ups, denial, deceit and lies, which is not the right way.

     What Sundaygar Dearboy needs to do now is hold a press conference, fully come out and be remorseful, apologize, admit that he is wrong; ask for forgiveness, get seriously involve and contribute his time, energy and resources in the community, and if possible, pay the surviving family members some undisclosed financial payment to genuinely put this bad publicity and career-ending mess behind him.

     If he can do all that, I am sure he could most definitely gain some sympathy from the Liberian people. Can he recover from the bad publicity? I think he can if he is genuine and works hard to gain the trust, confidence, love and forgiveness of the Liberian people.