adminTHE adage “there is no place like home” applies to Chengeto Brown’s return to the motherland on a mission of re-discovery. The USA-based daughter to the late Andy Brown and Chiwoniso Maraire has been enjoying every moment of her stay in Zimbabwe since returning home in May. In an interview with The Sunday Mail Leisure last week, Chengeto said she came back to reconnect with her roots.
“I stay in Texas where there are a lot of Zimbabweans so it does not really feel like you are far from home but at the end of the day, it is not Zimbabwe,” said Chengeto.
“It has been great coming back home and being welcomed with a lot of love since I last came home about three years ago. I think I will be here for a while because I want to reconnect with my roots and rediscover myself as an artiste.”
For the short time that she has been in Zimbabwe, the upcoming mbira artiste has kept herself busy with music, both in the studio and on stage.
“I have been working on an album which is near completion and it will be coming out in the next few months. Ever since I came back, I have been spending a lot of time in the studio and performing live whenever I can,” she said.
The album will be a cocktail of genres. Songs from it are being recorded in different parts of the world.
“I have worked on some of the songs in the States, some in France, in South Africa and right now I am working on other tracks while I am here because I want to have a mixture of sounds on the album.
“Two of the singles ‘If I’ and ‘Let it Go’ have already been released and people can listen to them on YouTube and SoundCloud,” revealed Chengeto.
Her siblings, Ammara and Alex, whom she has performed with on several occasions, are also going to feature on the album.
“Ammara and Alex are also featuring on the album which I think is amazing because we are getting a chance to do something we have never done which is to make music together. The best part is that’s all our parents ever wanted because they always said we had to stick together since we are siblings and all,” she added.
Coming from a Western environment, she says she has had to learn how to merge both Zimbabwean and Western types of music. “While trying to find the music genre I am comfortable with, I realised that I could not choose between Zimbabwean and western genres since I love both so I ended up having to fuse them.”
Of late, Ammara has been doing very well considering the success of her collaboration with Tytan on “Mukoko”, something that Chengeto is proud of.
“I am ridiculously proud of Ammara because she is doing very well, the song they did with Tytan is a mega hit, which is super amazing. It’s great having her as my older sister, and her being a great artiste in the same sense because since my parents passed, she has been providing me with the guidance I need.”
There might have been tensions in the past with other family members but it seems it is all water under the bridge now.
“There are always squabbles and tensions in families but we are a strong family and I believe we have moved past our differences so for now there are no problems at all.”
Chengeto’s mother Chiwoniso died around this time of the year and she hinted of plans to do something in honour of her.
She went on to add that a very huge void was left in her family when Chiedza died but they were sticking together as family to get past the tragedy.
“We are thinking about doing a commemoration for my mother and we are still in the process of deciding what it is we want to do because I would want it to be proper so as soon as we come up with something solid, we will let the world know.
“It is a very painful process, losing someone you love, it’s hard but I think for us we are much stronger with each other so we are trying to cope with the situation. All I know is that she is in peace and it is now up to us to deal with the healing process.”
Online Reporter