Published by the government of Zimbabwe
2 April 2008
Harare — There seems to be something special about sungura. Until recently, the genre had become a hit in most of the country's provinces with the exception of Matabeleland where sungura musicians were still trying to build their fan base.
Of late, however, the reverse has become true seeing Matabeleland - in particular Bulawayo - witnessing a plethora of sungura artistes burning a trail of success in the area. Some music fans in the City of Kings - normally twinned with South Africa's Johannesburg due to similarities in lifestyles, dress code and even language - are now gaining an appreciation of sungura.
Bulawayo's party-people for some time had a craze for South African kwaito, house and funky, but now the trend was changing and inclining sungura with more musicians making inroads in Bulawayo dating from the late 1990s. Critics cite a number of factors which could have given rise to the appreciation of sungura from across the divide, chief among them being the influx of more Shona speaking people into Matabeleland especially Bulawayo. Others credit promoters for having brought sungura to the fore in the region, once a preserve for mainly South African music.
Many a time, we had had promoters bringing such names as the Chimbetus (late Simon and Allan) and Sulumani, Alick Macheso, Tongai Moyo, Somandla Ndebele and Cephas Mashakada, among others.
At the moment, men of the moment, Macheso and Tongai are the two stalwarts commanding a huge following in the region.
Information on the ground indicate that Macheso, like his counterpart, Moyo was slowly building a large following in Bulawayo due to the structures he set in the region. Recently, Macheso won the hearts of many in Matebeleland with his duet project with Makokoba songbird Beatar Mangethe featured on her album Succeed.
Macheso and Beather alternate to sing in both Shona and Ndebele, thus winning the hearts of both.
Panganai Hare, the brains behind Mo-tainment Promotions and Orchestra Mberikwazvo's chief representative for the Bulawayo Chapter, belief they played a part to popularise sungura artistes in the region in a way.
"If you remember very well, Macheso is a humble man who has over the years managed to let his music speak for itself from the humble beginnings with his uncle (Nicholas Zakaria) to the present day with his own band.
"As the Bulawayo chapter, we are really behind him and we have been pushing around his music," he said.
Despite being Macheso's chief strategist in Bulawayo, Hare said he was also keen to turn other sungura artistes a success story in Bulawayo.
"We love every sungura artiste but at the moment the bias was currently on Macheso, since he is the major drawcard in the country at the moment.
"To show our love for Macheso and sungura in general, we are going to honour Orchestra Mberikwazvo for clocking a decade with an undisclosed token on the 5th of April in Bulawayo.
"The celebrations which start at Nkulumane Shopping Mall in the afternoon will be later sealed with a live show at the Z.I.T.F Hall in the evening," he said.
Girls La Musica who have also popularised Macheso's music will also feature at the evening celebrations together with Progress Chipfumo.
Hare urged all sungura lovers in the city to grace the occasion. Hare has also managed to bring other high profile artistes to Bulawayo in the form of Moyo, Allan Chimbetu among several dance groups specialising in sungura and rhumba dances.
It can also be said that Tongai was always a happy man each time he played in Bulawayo.
The same goes for Somandla Ndebele and Madzibaba Nicholas Zakaria.
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