Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Lawrence Moyo
23 August 2008
Harare — LEADING sungura artiste, Alick Macheso wants the sons of legendary Leonard Dembo to take a cue from the Suluman and Tryson Chimbetu and revive their late father's music.
Macheso has embarked on an ambitious mission to have the late Dembo's sons, Morgan and Tendai, learn to reproduce the beat that made their father an icon on the local and even regional music scene.
Born in Chirumhanzu, Midlands, Dembo -- who died on April 9, 1996 at the age of 37 -was an outstanding songwriter, guitarist and vocalist.
Since his death, there have been attempts to revive Dembo's Barura Express but nothing meaningful has come out of those efforts.
There are some critics who are of the opinion that Dembo never gave members of Barura Express the chance to write their own songs or lead the vocals on the songs they wrote.
As a result -- the critics believe-the band members could not make hits out of the more than a dozen songs Dembo left unrecorded when he died, instead they messed up his work and the three albums released after his death all flopped.
Former Barura Express guitarist, Innocent Mujintu made another attempt two years ago and recorded an album "Ndofunga Barura" but it never made the sort of impact expected of Dembo's music.
But with Suluman and Tryson Chimbetu doing so well to revive their late fathers' -- Simon and Naison's -- Dendera music, Macheso believes Morgan and Tendai can turn out to be the right people to revive Dembo's music.
Tendai is already playing the lead guitar, which his father used to play, while his elder brother Morgan is playing bass and doing vocals.
The two made a brief appearance during Macheso's family show at Harare Gardens on Sunday and did a rendition of Dembo's all-time classic, Chitekete, supported by Orchestra Mberikwazvo whose guitarists -- Lucky Mumiriki, Zacharia Zakaria, Noel Nyazanda and Macheso reproduced the beat to the song.
Macheso told the crowd that he had taken it upon himself to help Morgan and Tendai revive their late father's music.
In an interview during the week, Macheso said that he would help Dembo's sons record an album once he feels they have reached similar levels as the old Barura Express.
"The last thing I would want is to rush them into a product that will turn out to be an embarrassment or a mockery of their father who was such a great artiste.
"So my mission is to accommodate Morgan and Tendai in my free time and then get them to play instruments the same way, or almost the same way, their father did.
"Tendai is playing the lead guitar, which his father used to play while Morgan is playing bass and is also doing vocals.
"Obviously it will be almost impossible for them to reach their father's level but given that they have shown commitment, it is possible for them to do just as Suluman and Tryson have done in reviving their fathers' music.
"I have worked with both Suluman and Tryson, helping them here and there and I think they have done very well so far to revive their fathers' music.
"Morgan and Tendai can do the same and, just like Suluman and Tryson, they will have to redo their father's work and also come up with their own compositions," said Macheso.
He said they were making plans to have Dembo's sons relocate from Ridgeview to Chitungwiza.
"The problem at the moment is that Morgan and Tendai are staying in Ridgeview while I'm in Chitungwiza.
"There is little free time during the week as most of the time I will be working with the band (Orchestra Mberikwazvo) while Friday to Sunday we have shows.
"But it will be much better if they (Dembo sons) were closer so that I have more time with them, they can even attend our practice sessions.
"So the one option is for them to move to Chitungwiza where their father's house is but that will have to be approved by their mother who is with them in Ridgeview."
Meanwhile, Macheso has ruled out the possibility of him releasing a new album before the end of the year.
Although he has started rehearsing tracks to feature on the new album, Macheso says there is still work to be done before he starts sampling them at live shows to get views from his fans.
"Of course we would have loved to have a new album on the market in time for Christmas but I don't see it happening.
"Im against rushing an album just for the sack of meeting a deadline and for an album to be a hit over the Christmas holidays, it has to be on the market from November and that's just three months from now.
"So we will have to disappoint our fans by not releasing an album ahead of the Christmas holidays but I hope they understand that what is more important is a polished album that they will enjoy.
"We have already started rehearsing tracks that we intend to feature on the new album and when we feel we have reached the best level we will then take the tracks to our fans at live shows.
"We will try and incorporate their (fans') input before we then take the album for recording so that effectively rules November out."
He however, is planning on a video release in time for the ZTV Video of the Year competition after clinching last year's contest with "Madhuve" off his latest album, Ndezvashe.
"We took into consideration what our fans had to say about our last video recording and we want to factor those views in the video we want to release in time for the competition," said Macheso.
Madhuve's success in the ZTV video contest was viewed by some critics as music fans' love for the song and not their appreciation of a quality video product.
They felt there was still a lot to be done on the part of Macheso in terms of video production.
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