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Music that tells the Zimbabwean story

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By Fidelis Manyange

LIKE every nation under the sun, Zimbabwe is a nation with rich cultural practices that define its people.
Music as a form of art underlines our norms and values.
Since time immemorial, music has been playing a major role in our society; influencing and shaping behaviour.
Our ancestors were great composers as witnessed by some of their songs which are still popular to date, with many renditions cobbled up by the current crop of artistes.
Songs composed upheld our cultural values from generation to generation.
The songs were relevant and directed our wars, rituals as well as entertainment.
Liberation fighters of the Second Chimurenga learnt about heroes of the First Chimurenga from songs, among other mediums of knowledge.
‘Chemutengure’, ‘Nhemamusasa’, ‘Nyamaropa’, ‘Mahororo’ and ‘Nyama yekugocha’ are examples of songs that have stood the test of time because of their relevance and teachings.
Unlike their European counterparts like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethoven and Joseph Haydn, among others, whose history is well documented, our early composers and artistes have not been documented.
The above composers, despite having died a century ago, have children and adults in the West who venture into music familiarising with their works.
This is because their music speaks the Western story and define their values.
Mozart composed more than 600 works that tell the stories of his people, as well as their ambitions.
Joseph Hydn, regarded as ‘father of Symphony and string quartet’ in the West, said, ‘Posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years’, in referrence to Mozart’s works.
And subsequent musicians have paid homage to Mozart.
Zimbabwe has the likes of Sekuru Gora, Ephart Mujuru, Dumisani Maraire and other mbira greats who should be the foundation of local musicians, but they are unknown by many, among some who claim to be good musicians.
Our yesteryear artistes took a cue from our ancestors and composed as well as sang songs that appealed to a wider audience.
Leonard Dembo, James Chimombe, Marshall Munhumumwe, Thomas Mapfumo, John Chibadura, Rusike Brothers and others are examples of artistes whose music content did not deviate from our culture and values.
Their music is timeless, unlike most of today’s music which is vulgar and can never be listened to in a family set-up.
For instance, lyrics such as ‘Kudonhedza musika’ and ‘…ndongosimudza musoro kunge gumkumu’ are popular, yet what value do they add to society?
What lessons do they impart?
Can the Zim-dancehall genre be described as local music with local content or it has Jamaican traditions and values delivered in Shona and Ndebele.
So dirty are some of the lyrics that Jamaican musicians like Shabba Ranks, Yellowman and Vybz Kartel would go green with envy.
Long back, recording companies like Teal, Gallo, ZMC and Gramma Records used to record artistes whose contents they knew would resonate with the masses.
By being selective and prioritising the right content, the recording companies ensured that Zimbabweans of different ages were assured of listening to content which defined hunhu/ubuntu.
These yesteryear artistes produced timeless classics which are on demand to date, of with songs like ‘Ruva Rangu’ by Rusike Brothers are being re-mixed by many other artistes including a whiteman, David Livingstone and The Presumers.
It was an irresistible song whose lyrics were based on traditional courtship, just the way our ancestors would praise their loved ones.
Recently, the late Leonard Dembo’s fans, mostly made up of youngsters who only knew Dembo through his music, converged at his mother’s home in Beatrice and gave her various gifts as a way of celebrating and appreciating the late great musician’s works.
Dembo did not divert from our cultural norms and values in his lyrical contents.
His songs like ‘Sarura wako’, ‘Chitekete’ and ‘Vana vanemazita’ are some of the songs whose compositions are built on the values that make us a people.
John Chibadura, James Chimombe and Marshall Munhumumwe were also good social commentators who produced music that resonated with the desires and aspirations of the people.
In our culture, folktales played an important role in educating and entertaining both the young and old.
Our ancestors used song to accompany their folktales so that the audience would not get bored.
Some of these folktales laid the base for songs later composed by our musicians which became so popular as to top the charts.
Joseph Mutero of Zvishavane Sounds was made popular by the song ‘Mutongi gava maenzanise’, while the Bundu Boys’ song ‘Simbimbino’ became a sing-along tune for many Zimbabweans locally and abroad.
The songs ‘Chipendani’ by Super Beat and Marko Sibanda’s ‘Dhongi namvuu’ were also traditional folktales popularised by these musicians.
The contents of these songs showed that people are ready to consume that which speaks to their hunhu/ubuntu.
Songs which depict our cultural norms and values can even be sung in English and still drive home the message of who we are.
The National Anthem is also sung in English and its content, which matters, remains the same.
Our Zimbabwean story can be written or sung in English as long as the West does not intrude in our narrative.
With the creation of more television and radio stations, more content will be required and it must be local content that the people must be exposed to.
How will it serve the nation to have content aping or seeking to outdo America’s dirtiest and filthiest rappers like Lil Wayne, Danny Brown, Cam’ron, and Plies; emulating and translating their lyrics into Shona, Ndebele and other local languages?
For example, can one listen to Maskiri’s ‘Madam Mombeshora’ and ‘Blue Movie’ nevanyarikani?
Local artistes will benefit in a big way if they are to produce that which highlights and portrays hunhu/ubuntu.
Local content must portray true local content or artistes will gain short-term fame and sink into oblivion and the country will never contribute to anything significant on the international scene.
Local music is culturally rich, be it jiti, sungura, mbira music, traditional contemporary, mbube, isitshikitsha or nquzu, for it speaks volumes about who we are as a people.

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