April music extragavanza

Festival tells me that they are hosting a dinner on the 14 April in partnership with Coca-Cola to thank Dorothy Masuka, The Cool Crooners and Lina Mattaka for their contribution to the music industry and for inspiring generations of musicians.
Sean “Suicidal” Kingston performs at the Celebration Centre and Glamis Stadium around on April 22. This is followed by the annual event, Harare International Festival of the Arts.
A number of international and local artistes who include Winky D, Transit Crew and Chiwoniso Maraire have been lined up for this explosion.
UMOJA, that project which brings together talented youngsters from Norway, Mozambique, South Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe will form part of this year’s Hifa.
They are scheduled to perform at the 7 Arts Theatre during the Hifa week.
I am reliably informed that the UMOJA patron for South Africa, Ray Phiri, and patron for Kenya, Eric Wainana will grace the occasion together with the Zimbabwe patron, Oliver Mtukudzi.
Although these famous artists will not be performing, they will be meeting their Zimbabwean fans and have been asked to host one Zimbabwean musician and one fan in their respective countries with all expenses paid for by the UMOJA executive.
This is how it goes: Ray Phiri and Eric Wainana will each choose one fan among the people they meet.
The chosen fan will in turn choose one of his/her favourite local musician who will travel together with the chosen fan for one week’s holiday sometime in the month of May to Kenya or South Africa and hosted by Wainana and Phiri respectively.
Last Saturday, as a pass time activity, I did a quick street survey among 100 locals to find out which popular musician they would choose to go on holiday with and why.
I then recorded the number of times each musician was mentioned. These are the results: Winky D, 16; Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave, 7; Tongai Moyo, 5; Alick Macheso, 11; Sulumani Chimbetu, 13; Sandra Ndebele, 10; Cephas Mashakada, 4; Leonard Zhakata, 14; Daiton Somanje, 3; Dino Mudondo, 2; Kapfupi, 6; Albert Nyathi, 3, Alexio Kawara, 5 and Roki, 3.
I dare not publish the reasons they gave for their choice of musician for two reasons; first due to the expletives they used to describe their chosen musician and second due to the fact that I do not want to do the H-Metro out of business.
However, this all sounds very exciting! Imagine spending a week with Ray Phiri or the exciting Eric Wainana.
But who are these guys?
Raymond “Chikapa” Phiri was born to Malawian immigrant worker and South African guitarist nicknamed “Just Now” Phiri on the 23rd March 1947.
He is an African jazz, fusion and mbaqanga musician born in Mpumalanga. He became founding member of the Cannibals in the 1970’s.
When the Cannibals disbanded Ray founded Stimela, with whom he conceived gold and platinum-selling albums like “Fire, Passion and Ecstacy” (1991), “Look, Listen and Decide” (1992) as well as the controversial “People Dont Talk So Lets Talk”.
In 1985 Paul Simon asked Ray along with Ladysmith Black Mambazo to join his Graceland project, which was successful but also helped the South Africans to make names for themselves abroad.
Ray was to collaborate with Paul Simon again on ‘Simon’s Rhythm of the Saints’ album, which saw him perform on stages such as Central Park and Madison Square Garden as well as appearing on top television shows in the US.
Ray is still a very popular musician in South Africa and became UMOJA’s patron after the death of the former patron, Miriam Makeba.
Eric Wainaina was born in Nairobi, Kenya, on 28 August, 1973, to George Gitau Wainaina and Margaret Wangari Wainaina. His love for music started at a young age.
He got a piano at age 4, originally intended for his brother, Simon, who instead took keen interest in football. Wainaina thus grudgingly took piano lessons.
Whilst growing up, Wainaina was influenced musically by international artists such as Papa Wemba, Youssou N’Dour and Paul Simon.
His career was launched with his debut album, “Sawa Sawa”, in 2001. Wainaina’s music is a blend of Kenyan Benga rhythm and East African guitars, with some modern harmony.
Wainaina first stepped into the world of music with Five Alive, a gospel Acappella group, who drew their musical influence from Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Take 6. Dominating Kenya’s airwaves in 1995, Five Alive released their debut album ‘Five Alive’ in 1996, and even went on to tour Europe the same year.
His experience with the group convinced Wainaina to pursue a professional career in music. In 1996 he performed and appeared in the video for “Get in the Driver’s Seat”, a song commissioned by the United Nations Drug Control Programme which launched a successful anti-drug campaign spanning 20 countries.
This not only set the stage for his eventual emergence as a solo artist, but also got him into the social concern and activism that characterises much of his music
When the group disbanded in 1997, Wainaina went on to join the Berklee College of Music in Boston – USA, from which he graduated with a degree in Music, majoring in Songwriting and Record Engineering. .
During his years at Berklee, Wainaina and his band travelled to different parts of the USA to perform, as well as holding regular shows in Boston.
Together with his producer, Christian Kaufmann, he worked to produce a sound that would be distinctively Kenyan both in the music and the content of the lyrics.
In order to do this, he made sure that he released a new track every time he returned home for vacation.
This was well received by his growing fanbase, with his performance at Kenya’s ‘Beats of the Season’ concert in December 2000 being watched live by 15, 000 fans and broadcast nationally.
His notable releases include “Kenya Only”, a song that instantly made him Kenya’s favourite modern musician.
After the 1998 terrorist bombing in Nairobi where over 200 Kenyans lost their lives, “Kenya Only’ was adopted as the unofficial song of mourning, receiving extensive radio and TV airplay nation-wide.
His adaptation of a Kikuyu folk tune “Ritwa Riaku” was added to the playlist of every radio station in the nation soon after.
He was also appointed Ambassador for the NGO MS Kenya, Kenya Human Rights Commission and by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights for his commitment to fighting the abuses to justice through music.
This anthem against corruption (Nchi ya Kitu Kidogo) was not so highly appreciated in all quarters, however, with the government of the day putting up resistance to it by refusing to air it on the national broadcaster, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation.
In one instance several attempts were made to keep him from performing at a national event, the Kenya Music Festival, including intimidation and attempts to switch off his microphone as his music was considered to be poisonous.
Following the suspicious death of Father Anthony Kaiser, in 2003, Wainaina was commissioned to write a song about this.
This became “Ukweli”, a call for justice despite efforts that were being made to cover up the true nature of Father Kaiser’s death, which was reported as suicide despite strong evidence to the contrary.
In 2001, Africa Almanac.com listed him amongst the top 100 Africans of the year 2000, which included high profile names such as Nelson Mandela.
His first record, “Sawa Sawa”, released in 2001, remains one of the highest-selling solo albums in the country.
Wainana is not new to Zimbabwe as he performed here during Hifa in 2003 where he left the audience mesmerised. He comes back this year as Kenya’s patron for UMOJA.
The Zimbabwe patron, Oliver Mtukudzi will be part of the hosting team for Wainana and Phiri. I look forward to having a chat with these three!
l Fred Zindi is a Professor at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a musician and an author of several books on music. He can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected]