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Blessings Chidakwa
Arts Reporter
If you think Sungura is fading, sit back and relax. The genre is here to stay in fact it is growing leaps and bounds attracting foreign nationals’ interest.
Sungura, also referred to as museve is the most popular genre in Zimbabwean music and became popular in the early 1980s.
Arguably pioneered by front man Ephraim Joe and his band Sungura Boys which counted many notable future hitmakers such as John Chibadura, Simon and Naison Chimbetu (who later created a version of sungura known as dendera), Ronnie Chataika, Mitchell Jambo and System Tazvida as members.
40 years later it has still managed to stand the test of time now getting international recognition with foreign nationals now joining the genre which was once perceived to be “only” for Zimbabweans.
Among those now venturing into sungura there is a Chinese national, Yuan who prefers to be called Gamba in vernacular language who has taken the genre by storm.
Gamba has been trending on social media recently after he featured on a track “Muzezuru” which he collaborated on with Mr Favour.
In the song which is accompanied by a video on YouTube, Gamba sings the line, “tinodanana…tinodanana”.
Forget his hoarse voice when singing in Shona, forgive his origin but it is befitting to call Yuan by the name ‘Gamba’ which literally translates to a hero.
His courage to attempt to defy odds and sing a vernacular language probably qualifies him to be a ‘hero’ of the Sungura genre, a sector that has always been dominated by locals only.
Apart from Yuan Gamba there is also an Indian who also featured sungura ace Mark Ngwazi on stage during the launch of his album ‘Nharo neZvinenharo’ on June 27, 2022 at Bar Rogue, Long Chen in Belvedere.
Those who were live streaming the album launch would have probably mistaken themselves for being tuned on some Indian channels Zee World or Star Life.
Their guess would have obviously been as good as mine as there was a man of Indian origin Dhyaan Kumar Savania who sang in Shona at ease backing Ngwazi.
“…takakura tichidya sadza nemuriwo tichikanga nzungu mumba…,” are some of the lines Kumar Savania sang much to the applause of fans.
Our news crew tracked the two foreign nationals who shared their experience.
The Chinese Yuan’s manager and translator Anyway Mubvumbi said besides a collaboration with Mr Favour on “Muzezuru” track he has since done two other singles in Shona.
“He just likes Shona language and loves to listen to music by Alexio Kawara. Already Yaun has done two tracks in Shona titled “Ndokudisisai” and “Kumagumo Newe”. He is working on his third Shona which will be released soon,” he said.
Mubvumbi said Yuan is aiming for greater heights as his immediate plan is to do a collaboration with Sungura maestro Alick Macheso.
Mr Favour born Anywhere Mukani who worked with Yuan on the track “Muzezuru ” described the experience as awesome.
“I am someone who enjoys introducing new art in the industry. I did the collaboration “Muzezuru” with the Chinese guy after having realised that no one has ever done it before in sungura genre.
“At first people were skeptical of a Chinese singer singing Shona. It is unusual for a Chinese person to sing Shona, but l trained him to fit into the sungura genre,” he said.
Mukani said Yuan is someone who enjoys rock music but he has been writing Shona songs since 2014 which he was reluctant to sing until they collaborated.
“It took me time to teach him words like ‘Muzezuru’ which he would say ‘Mudzedzuru’, ‘Tinodana’ he would say ‘Tinodhanana’. That is an experience that even myself l am still laughing lungs out.
“I expect to do another track with him, but so far l am working with an Indian. This is now my trademark which l am introducing to work with foreign nationals. I will also sing with a Palestinian female artist,” he said.
Mukani said his collaboration with the Indian national to be disclosed later would be a surprise track to be released anytime soon.
He said at the same time he is working on an album with collaborations with other foreign nationals.
Kumar Savania of Indian origin boldly declared that he is a local boy from the town of Rusape.
“I am of Indian origin but born and bred in Zimbabwe making me a Zimbabwean by nationality. My father was born here and my mother in Kenya.
“I can speak Shona fluently since I was born and bred in Zimbabwe, it is the language which I have grown up speaking as my home town is Rusape. There are some words in Shona which I struggle to understand but I am learning,” he said.
Kumar Savania said he is currently a manager at a very reputable company in Harare but music and arts has always been his passion.
“I began singing at a very young age. I was involved a lot in our cultural events at church and I was a youth leader. My passion for arts in general began at the age of three. I feel happy and proud to sing in Shona.
“It feels as though I am at home and other people who follow me from the diaspora who don’t understand Shona can actually relate to our music, even though they don’t understand it. We are putting our language on the maps and that is a great thing for me,” he said.
Kumar Savania who currently is yet to do an individual Shona project said he is planning on doing one soon.
He however, claimed to have worked with local artists as Ngwazi on some of his projects describing the experience as a pleasure.
Kumar Saviana said Ngwazi is a down to earth person who is assisting him to do a lot of things and has a very good character which is probably why he is gaining popularity.
“I have not worked with any other big artists but I do have a single called “Sungano” which I released with an artist called Simbarashe Ndungwa.
“I also have two other singles called “Baby Girl” and “High Life.” Which I also released last year and are available on all audio platforms worldwide, and on YouTube too,” he said.
Online Reporter