‘VAKATOZORANGANA vana vemuvengi, vanoda kuparadza rudzi rwedzinza redu ka. Vakaunza chekufa chisingaoneki’. (The enemy’s children devised a plan. They want to wipe out our race. They brought an invisible killer). ‘Tenda’ by Simon Chimbetu, off the album Lullaby
The above heading is taken off Alec Pongweni’s 1982 classic Songs that won the Struggle which tells us about the songs that won the country’s liberation struggle.
Despite being inspired by Pongweni’s book, there has been a temptation for this writer not to talk about the recently departed Cde Dick ‘Chinx’ Chingaira because of the assumption that the much loved and revered hero’s story has been fully told by others.
It has not.
It can never be fully told, just like that of many other great heroes.
Yet it is difficult to write Cde Chinx’s story without mentioning that of yet another great, the late Simon ‘Chopper’ Chimbetu.
This duo of great musicians gave us songs that spoke of our pre and post-liberation struggle aspirations.
They spoke the language of pan-Africanism and nationalism; the forces behind our fierce resistance to colonialism and neo-colonialism.
This assessment is drawn from the late President Canaan Banana’s foreword in Pongweni’s book in which he raises a fundamental fact to the effect that:
Now that the war is over, I hope that the artistes who composed ‘The Songs that Won the Liberation Struggle’ will not go to waste. There is need for new songs that will help re-inforce our socialist thrust.
This was what Cde Chinx did with aplomb — writing songs about our past, our present and our future.
Where Chopper sang about;
Dzorerai simba regamba mundima, ndima iyo iye ichigere kupera.
Dzorerai rudo tiwadzane Mwari. Dzorerai rudo kuvana vevatema
Wedzerai simba Jehova wehondo mudunhu rechipikirwa Zimbabwe
(Return back the power of the freedom fighter, the struggle is not yet over. Bring the love back dear God. Bring back the love to the black people. Give us more power in our Promised Land Zimbabwe)
Cde Chinx told us about how whites never stopped scheming against Zimbabwe in their feverish pursuit of neo-colonialism.
Zvamakaona vachena vachiuya makafunga kuti vanhu kwavo, mifungo yavo yaiva izere mhosva, majerasi hondo nekuparadza.
Zimbabwe inokosha maihwe, Zimbabwe igoridhe maihwe
(When we saw white people coming many of us thought they were good people but their minds were filled with crime, jealousy, war and destruction. Zimbabwe is special. Zimbabwe is gold).
The pervading message from Chimbetu and Cde Chinx is that of unity, love and peace.
These are without doubt songs of the nation.
Plato declared:
Give me the songs of the nation and it matters not who writes its laws.
It is these songs of the nation by the likes of Chimbetu and Cde Chinx that wrote for us the laws that make this country the peaceful nation that it is today.
It is these songs that shape the way for us as a nation and as a people.
It is these songs that define who we are and our programmes.
These songs define our unity, our peace and our development.
On the road to Zimbabwe’s independence, music played an essential role of unifying the freedom fighters and the masses.
It raised the freedom fighters’ and the masses’ morale through messages that defined the purpose of the armed struggle.
The songs detailed the aims of the struggle.
Freedom fighters used music and dance at all-night gatherings called pungwes to educate the masses about the objectives of the armed struggle.
Songs like ‘Mukoma Nhongo bereka sabhu tiende’, ‘Nyika yedu yeZimbabwe’, ‘Ruzhinji Rwatsidza’, ‘Sendekera mukoma chakanyuka’ and ‘Emoyeni Kuyatshisa’ captivated and inspired the masses.
On the other hand, poets like Samuel Chimsoro, Colleen Samupindi, Forbes Karimakwenda, Samuel Dave Seyaseya, Nemi Tichapedza and Jonathan Wutawunashe were also in tow, producing poems that instilled in freedom fighters and masses’ minds a culture of victory.
Through these poems, the poets focus on the grievances of the locals that led them to take up arms.
Some of the poems were inspired by the talking points of the liberation struggle such as the Chimoio and Nyadzonia attacks.
Other poems were inspired by the attainment of independence.
In the poem The Labourer, Chimsoro explores how blacks were made to labour in vain in mines and on farms where they worked for whites.
Remuneration was poor, hence their dreams of improving their standards of living were not achieved.
The labourer’s dreams will not tell
The sour taste of grapes he sees,
But the sweet taste of wine,
Ageing in the landlady’s glass, he writes.
Samupindi, in the poem ‘We’, highlights the squalid conditions locals lived in during the colonial era while the whites enjoyed the best the country had to offer.
We, the children of Zimbabwe,
Subjects of a nameless horrible,
Dwellers of plastic palaces,
Mansions that rumble with the wind,
We, with shivers in every limb,
With soft tears that fill our eyes
And flood the hearts with sorrow, writes Samupindi.
Cde Chinx would buttress the point that Africans must unite in order to defeat the enemy.
He sings;
Vanhu vose vemuno mu Africa tamirira kuchipedzisa zvehutongi wemaunze rufu. Ayo akaunza rufu dai tachibatana tikurire hee unza rufu. Ngatisimudzire mbiri dzeruzhinji rwenyika ino.
Cde Chinx did not die. Heroes do not die, they fade away.
But Cde Chinx will not fade away.
Through his music, he gave a gift to cherish till eternity.
That music will never fade away, neither will this great of greats fade away.
He will live with us and our memories until the end of time.
Roger confirm!.
Let those with ears listen.