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1. Emoyeni Kubuhlungu – LMG Choir
2. Bayethe – Chase Skuza
3. Amaqhawe Ethu – Solomon Skuza
4. Ndega Ndega – Mbuya Madhuve
5. Gamba – Oliver Mtukudzi
6. Ibambeni – Impi Yosiko
7. Pane Asipo -Simon Chimbetu
8. Nesango – Clive Malunga
9. Zimbabwe – Bob Marley
10. Makorokoto – The Four Brothers
This week’s Top 10 songs are in memory of the heroes that fought the liberation struggle and are being celebrated on Monday.
Topping the list is Emoyeni Kubuhlungu by Light Machine Gun (LMG), a choir that was set up by the late Vice President, Dr Joshua Nkomo to motivate freedom fighters during the protracted war of liberation.
Emoyeni Kubuhlungu is synonymous with the heroes’ celebrations which are commemorated annually on the second Monday of August. The song is usually played when a national hero is being buried at the National Heroes’ Acre in Harare (where the main Heroes’ Day celebrations will be held) or when the nation remembers its gallant sons and daughters that paid the supreme sacrifice to liberate the country.
According to one of the LMG members, Cde Happiness Sibanda, the song talks about the plight of fellow combatants who did not get a good life after the war.
“The song says we went to war and fought but when we came back, some of us didn’t enjoy the fruits of our sacrifice. We were promised farms when we came back from the war and some of us are yet to benefit from the land reform,” Cde Sibanda said in a previous interview with this publication.
She said Emoyeni Kubuhlungu was composed following the bombing of the Freedom and Mkushi camps (a facility for women guerrillas) in 1978.
“Most of the LMG songs are about the bombing. That is when we composed songs about the pain that we went through. After Zimbabwe gained independence, we sang Emoyeni Kwakubuhlungu narrating what happened during the war.”
Cde Sibanda said the choir played a very critical role to motivate and boost morale of the fighting combatants.
Some of the choir’s songs that raised the spirits of weary freedom fighters included, Sihlezi Egangeni, Laphuma Laba Bahle, Sizogijima and Guerrilla Ilanga Litshonile.
Online Reporter