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Fred Zindi Music Column
South Africa started a vuvuzela culture during World Cup football in 2010. The whole world got to know about it. Zimbabwe’s music fans have started a culture of violence. The word gets around and the world also gets to know about it. We are definitely international.
I saw the interview which was conducted on Jamaican television of a rather distraught Kalado immediately after his performance in Zimbabwe.
In it, the interviewer was asking Kalado to explain why he was pelted with empty beer cans by rowdy Zimbabwean music fans.
His response to the interview pointed at the poor organisation of the show. He blamed the promoters of the show saying: “They just use Jamaican artistes to draw the crowds and after that they have no respect for them.
“Mavado experienced the same thing. I was supposed to be on stage at midnight, but did not go on until well after three in the morning. The promoter had to ask a local artiste to rescue me when the cans of Red Bull started flying onto the stage. That was not fair”, he said.
On being asked whether he would return to Zimbabwe if invited again, his response was, “I would go back, but I would not accept it if they include local artistes to perform before or after me.”
From the interview the impression given is that it was the local artistes who encouraged fans to throw the beer cans onto the stage.
Whether true or not, this culture of violence at Zim dancehall concerts must come to a stop.
In the past, a lot of Jamaican artistes were keen to come to Zimbabwe. Now they do not care about Zimbabwe after reports of violence and disrespectful ghetto youths. Busy Signal has already cancelled his scheduled performance in Zimbabwe. Morgan Heritage has done the same. Are we saying we are smarter than these guys?
We need to instil a sense of discipline among the artistes and youths who misbehave in this way. If this does not stop, very soon all decent people will stop attending Zim dancehall shows. It is also true that there is no fun at a music show if there is no beer on sale. The average music fan’s idea of having fun is by getting high while listening to music. So there is no question of stopping beer sales at such concerts. Perhaps the beer should be sold in paper or light plastic containers, which will not go very far if thrown in the air. Alternatively, all music fans who see others throwing missiles should report them to security who will kick them out of the show. The artistes themselves should discourage such violence by stopping dissing each other.
It is disheartening to note how artistes with talent and the potential to strike it big are fast losing their credibility as they direct their energy towards hate and dirty lyrics. Zim dancehall artistes seem to believe they can quickly rise to stardom by launching verbal attacks at each other or by using dirty lyrics.
If Zim dancehall artistes are not careful, most of them will soon become a thing of the past.
Quite a few youngsters seem to believe that in order to become a rising star in Zim dancehall, one only needs to find piercing vulgar words to sing about and that will sell lots of records. That, is an illusion.
The other day I met Soul Jah Love and he started calling me “Chibaba”. I was not sure whether to take this as a compliment or an insult, but I am suspicious of every Shona noun that is pre-fixed with “Chi” as this often infers something ugly or something which is not nice.
Curiously, I went on to listen to Soul Jah Love’s musical content on one of his songs where he also talks about “Chibaba” and right at the end he finishes the song with unprintable words , “Chibaba Chimha—“. There is no meaning at all behind the use of such words except to be vulgar which Soul Jah Love succeeded in doing. Unless he is angry about something. Several of his fans enjoy this vulgarity because it shocks a lot of well-brought-up people, but sooner or later, they will all be fed up of hearing the same language such as “Life Yemboko” being repeated. The artistes themselves will soon run out of shocking ghetto language.
I do not remember how many times I have heard Lady Squanda singing about ‘Dho- RemaGuava’. That does not shock me anymore. I am sure that has also become boring to a lot of her fans. This cancerous culture which has been adopted from Jamaica and the United States presently stands as a big threat to the fast rising Zim dancehall genre. The question is: When are Zim dancehall artistes going to start singing sensible material? They are busy knocking each other out. Very soon the likes of Killer T, Dadza D, Legend Elly, Shinsoman and Seh Calaz will be a thing of the past as newcomers such as Tocky Vybes and Kinnah take over. Last year, we enjoyed hearing “popopopopo” and “Mawayawaya”, but we are already getting tired of such riffs. They are fashion licks but fashion comes and goes.
The punters, on realising they are running out of steam, now start to diss each other. They are even touching on people like Macheso who are not in their league. Something has got to be done. In the past when Gramma Records and Zimbabwe Music Corporation ruled the roost, they would not record anything which they felt was negative and will bring their stables into disrepute. But today, with home studios such as Afrimune Records, Chill Spot Records, Mad Level and Body Slam Records flourishing everywhere, there is no way of stopping the producers of such negative material from recording it. They will tell you that their artistes are enjoying artistic expression, take it or leave it.
They are producing things like “Tirikupinda Pachiterrorist”. Who in this day and age is proud to be a terrorist? But to some youths, that is something to be proud of.
Some of the artistes, unbeknown to them have got beautiful singing voices. Perhaps they should seek the services of professional song writers who can produce creative lyrical content and start singing instead of dissing one another. That way, real hits may come out of them.
Dancehall is not all about dissing each other. There are great Zim dancehall tunes that have been penned by known artistes and have done well. Tunes such as “Ndini Messi Wereggae”, “Mafira Kureva” and “Love Ye musojah” have done very well and have propelled the artistes to the top. Conscious, educative lyrics will assist in the development of a peaceful and well-cultured Zimbabwe. There are many non-violence and non-misogynistic lyrics which Zim dancehall artistes can come up with.
The negativity in the Zim dancehall genre has put the Zimbabwe music industry in a crisis and we need to resolve it now. This is where the Minister of Sports Arts and Culture should come in as he has been quiet for far too long.
In order to discuss this crisis, a seminar has been organised at Zimbabwe College of Music this week. It will be held on Thursday October 9 from 5:30 pm until 7:30 pm.
Discussants will include Sulumani Chimbetu who will talk about crisis in the sungura genre; Jonathan Banda (Winky D’s manager) who will look at the crisis from a Zim dancehall point of view and Pastor Charles Charamba who will discuss on behalf of gospel musicians, the implications of this crisis.
Entrance is free and there will be an open session where everyone will be given the opportunity to air their views on this crisis. You are all invited.
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