adminBrenda Phiri Entertainment Reporter
A 26-year-old Masvingo-born musician never dreamt he would meet up with one of the people who are now among Zimbabwe’s top gospel musicians.
He was just doing music as a hobby and was not really focused on making a career out of it. It was the influence of high-riding Mathias Mhere who got Justice Chiware to realise that dedication is the key.
His album “Blessed Believers” featuring a track of the same name and another title “Akatendeka” is the pay-off for going professional after time as an amateur.
“I later decided to record after having been inspired by Mhere’s focus towards music. The first time that I went professional, he featured me in some of his videos, and this spurred me to go out and try to start my own things,” he said.
Chiware’s arrival on the national scene has been the result of musicians nurturing talent and promoting other hopefuls to break into the mainstream.
When Mutare-based gospel musician, Blessing Shumba, first hit it big with his debut, “Ishe Wazvose” three years ago, he established a style of gospel music that was not only unique but carried an element of immediacy and hard-hitting to it.
Shumba came at a time when the likes of Pastor Charles Charamba and his singer wife Amai Olivi) Charamba had grabbed the mantle of gospel music in Zimbabwe. Shumba’s entrance gave gospel music aficionados something to complement the music by the artistes who were already ruling the roost in the genre.
Apart from its role of transforming society through the Word he also helped in easing their burden through well-thought-out and artistically done arrangements and productions.
When Shumba did a follow-up to his debut with yet another smasher “Ndi-Mwari” that was also well received by his fans, the inspiration was just too much for fellow artistes in the same genre, especially Mhere who has also become a household name himself.
Just as Shumba inspired Mhere, the latter is also beginning to mould others to follow in the footpath and “fat-paths” that he followed and the latest is young talent gospel musician, Chiware.
Chiware seems to have set an aim to become the next “Mathias Mhere” if he gains much attention. Unfortunately, Chiware appears to have literally copied Mhere’s style without adding an individual stamp to his own music.
Although Chiware admits that he sounds like Mhere, he, however, hastens to point out that his major source of inspiration was Diva Mafunga, the gospel musician behind hits like “Endai Naizvozvo”, among others.
Online Reporter