Published by the government of Zimbabwe
Wonder Guchu
8 October 2008
opinion
Harare — ORGANISERS of the Zimbabwe Music Awards have again sought to steer discussion on the forthcoming awards over categorisation and not on quality and the general developments in the music industry by scrapping Chimurenga and replacing it with a category called Socially Conscious Lyrics.
While it's a good gesture to move the awards ceremony, set for October 29, from Harare to Bulawayo, introducing another category that does not make any difference is not.
It is commendable that at last Zima organisers have realised that the Chimurenga category was an alleyway that would in the end come to a dead end.
This is so because Chimurenga is and has been Thomas Mapfumo's music and no other artiste can lay claim to it.
Mapfumo did not just come up with the name for the sake of a name, but he considered the role his music played in the struggle against the Rhodesian regime and the successful experiment he did with both traditional and modern instruments.
But it should not be forgotten that what Mapfumo called Chimurenga is simply and purely contemporary traditional because he fuses guitars and mbiras and uses songs taken from the public domain.
Mapfumo started off as a rock and roller with the Springfields in the 1960s when he performed traditional songs such as Chemutengure, Shungu Dzinondibaya and Kunaka Wakanaka using guitars.
His total transformation came with the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band when he released songs in Shona and Chewa.
Some of the songs are Tarambana, Mary, Shumba Inobva Mugomo, Amalume, Chandiparapata, Muwuyi Amuka, Ngoma Yarira and Murembo.
Mapfumo's music during those days, just like any other African beat, was called Afro-rock and until teaming up with the late Jonah Sithole and Picket Chiyangwa as Acid Band around 1978, his music was still called Afro-rock.
His debut album Hokoyo was released on an Afro-rock tip but subsequent songs that brought him anguish at the hands of the Smith regime took on an apparent defiant mode.
Harassment and then brief detention put Mapfumo in the pantheon of freedom fighters as a voice for the voiceless, hence the change of name from Afro-rock to Chimurenga.
Chimurenga music is, therefore, just a brand of contemporary traditional music attributable to Mapfumo and not to Pio Farai Macheka, the late Robbie Chagumuka or Brian Mteki.
This is so because if one listens to Mapfumo's music, they get defiant lyrics and a dominant mbira beat, which one does not get in Macheka, Chagumuka or Mteki's music.
Mapfumo's songs can best be described as socially conscious since they deal with people's hopes, struggles, successes, failures and anger as well as celebrate life in general.
A look at Mapfumo's releases over the years since 1973 clearly shows the nature of this struggle from the days of the liberation war through independence when he released songs that reflected the euphoria of the period.
The same trend continued in the mid 80s and early 90s, when Mapfumo dealt with various issues gripping a young nation, hitting hard at corruption, greed (Varombo Kuvarombo 1988 released as Corruption 1989) and on Government's slow pace at distributing land to the masses (Hondo 1992), HIV and Aids.
Even in the prevailing political polarisation, Mapfumo's lyrics still find purchase among neutrals as socially conscious lyrics.
Now one wonders what socially conscious lyrics Zima organisers are looking for?
Which musician will be placed in the new category and what measures will be used in judging their material?
These questions pop up because, in actual fact, much of Zimbabwean music can safely fit into the Socially Conscious Lyrics category.
How else does one describe Hosiah Chipanga, Pastor Charles Charamba, Shingisai Siluma or even Maskiri's music?
Maskiri, yes, because when he sings about a man who covets his female cousin, that's social consciousness!
He is saying there are men like that.
Some would suggest that the category should cater for Leonard Zhakata because his music is mostly about the problem workers in particular and people in general face.
But again Zhakata is a sungura musician if his background is to be taken into account.
Like many other musicians today who are inspired by Alick Macheso and Tongai Moyo, Zhakata looked up to the late Chimbetu brothers -- Simon and Naison -- who also had their roots deep in sungura.
The Sungura Boys at one time backed the Chimbetus after the brothers' stint with the OK Success at Mushandirapamwe Hotel in Highfield.
It is for this reason that Dendera music, as the Chimbetus call it, does not have the usual sungura traits because it borrowed from both East and Central African rhumba as well as the local brand of rhumba -- sungura.
In essence, Dendera is just a brand of sungura so is Zhakata's Zora music and Chipanga's nameless music.
If one stretches their mind further, the late Leonard Dembo comes into focus and again the question pops up -- where does his music lie?
Is it sungura, rhumba or now this socially conscious category?
Again the sungura angle comes into play considering Dembo's origins, his associates, inspirations and lyrics.
But with Dembo, one does not get the kind of beat the late John Chibadura and Sungura Boys played but the heavy bassline which characterises sungura is evident in most of his music.
His debut single Venenzia is proof of this although in later years, Dembo's music became lighter on the bassline, but heavier on rhythm and lead.
While there is need to categorise music, awards organisers seem to spend so much time on categories unlike in the 70s when music was Afro-pop, Afro-rock or Afro-jazz.
Likewise, Zimbabwean music today is sungura, contemporary traditional, gospel, urban grooves, Afro-jazz, mbira, choral and mass choral.
Organisers will find it easy if they trace the origins of each music genre to avoid splitting hairs.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2008 The Herald. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
Please ignore any comments from Takunya and Comical Mabhiza. Here are some facts (and you cant argue with facts!) why..
1) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza are paid by the ZANU PF to spread propaganda and lies, and to twist the truth in the ZANU PF's favor on the internet.
2) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza are one and the same person.
3) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza both have stated that Mugabe is the most democratic leader in Africa. Seriously!
4) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza both support the use of violence, murder, rape and torture by Mugabe against the people of Zimbabwe.
5) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza both believe that Bush is responsible for atrocities in Iraq, and this justifies Mugabe's atrocities in Zimbabwe, including the genocide of 20,000 Ndebele people and the murders of over 100 MDC supporters during this years elections.
6) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza should be ignored because none of their posts are truthful and they are always misleading.
7) If you say anything against Mugabe, Takunya and Comical Mabhiza may say that you are paid by the CIA and MI5 to write here.
8) I do not work for the CIA
9) The CIA does not pay me. If they do, please give them my bank account details, all cards accepted. :-)
10) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza will also resort to childish name calling when they have no factual evidence based argument.
11) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza both believe that Tsvangirai called for sanctions against the people of Mugabe.
12) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza should be ignored because non of their posts are truthful and they are always misleading.
13) Tsvangirai never called for sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe.
14) When confronted and asked for evidence of this, Takunya and Comical Mabhiza have none.
15) The Sanctions faced by Zimbabwe are not against the people of Zimbabwe.
16) The Sanctions faced by Zimbabwe are only against the government and its ministers, and 4 companies, including one that makes military uniforms.
17) None of these Sanctions are faced by the people of Zimbabwe.
18) Tsvangirai is not responsible for these sanctions.
19) If Tsvangirai did not exist, there would still be sanctions on Zimbabwe (as described above).
20) Therefore Tsvangirai is 100% independent of Zimbabwe being sanctioned as above.
21) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza should be ignored because non of their posts are truthful and they are always misleading.
22) Biti and Ncube, and Tsvangirai had no input into the drafting of the American sanctions bill.
23) The west does not want to recolonise Zimbabwe.
24) The west does not want to invade Zimbabwe.
25) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza should be ignored because non of their posts are truthful and they are always misleading.
26) The west does not want to poison aid and kill Zimbabweans.
27) Tsvangirai has never denied aid to the Zimbabwean people, only Mugabe has done this.
28) Takunya and Comical Mabhiza should be ignored because non of their posts are truthful and they are always misleading.
So just ignore Takunya and Comical Mabhiza, and let these facts speak for themselves.
Thank you for your time.
Allow me space and time to inform Wonder Guchu that he has no mental capacity to brand the ZIMA event as ill-advised, especially considering how foolhardy he has just portrayed himself in this article. My concern is in the categorisation of musicians in the so-called Socially Conscious Lyrics. Firstly I personally think that this is a valid entry and I would urge the organizers to be innovative in their selections, and not to listen to pseudo-analysis such as the one in question.
How can one blindly liken Zhakata’s music to the Chimbetu brothers’? Its naked truth that the two musicians are words apart in terms of creativity and objectivity. Chimbetu was a client advocate who tried to seize each opportunity to bend his “music” to please his client, while Zhakata was and remains a creative and very articulate social commentator. Leonard Zhakata is in the league of his own. The gentleman is too good to be compared to fly by night “musicians” such as Tongai Moyo and Chipanga who are still in their early infancy as far as the music fraternity is concerned.
Unlike most musicians who just sing for their tummies, the great Zhakata takes his time to perfect his work and this explains why I find his music so educative. Look at the way his album title resonate with the songs contained therein. For example in tine vimbo, we have songS like Kuremerwa" and "Tine Vimbo" which are laced with courage and determination pursue our dreams to the end. What more social commentary or consciousness do you want, and where else can you get one?
Leonard Zhakata’s music is not about the problems of workers, it is about hope, social justice and determination all of which contribute to what I call “emancipation of the human mind”. Get it right Mr Guchu. I wonder why this story is included in the opinion and analysis column when it lacks the most important thing- analysis! Any discerning and objective music fan need not be convinced that the Socially Conscious Lyrics category is meant for Leonard Zhakata. Never in a million times can it go to the likes of Tuku and Garakara who find it fit to sing about Tsimba and Idya banana that are totally irrelevant to the current situation.
THE POWER OF THE PEN