adminHe died on December 28, 2011 from a motor neuron ailment. His death has robbed the music fraternity of a sincere, creative, innovative, serious and dedicated singer and performer who was instrumental in bringing Zimbabwean music to a higher level.
Words cannot adequately express how I feel about the loss of such a generous friend as nothing can describe the sadness and anguish that I am feeling.
We offer our sympathy, prayers and compassion to his family and friends. The loss of his life will impact on us forever.
I
first met Prince Tendai in 1982 when we lived in the same street in Mabelreign. I was the musician. At the time he was not, but when we became friends, he showed his passion for music and his eagerness to learn how to play the guitar. He ended up buying my acoustic guitar for Z$25. He straight away started music lessons and I taught him to play Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” which he mastered in no time at all.
As he became more confident in his song writing and composition skills, he made up his mind to be different from what was going on in the Zimbabwe music industry at the time where every musician was forced to play “museve” because, according to Gramma and Zimbabwe Music Corporation, the two music giants then, that was the only music which appealed to the masses.
He started his own genre of music which imitated the Caribbean calypso sounds. This genre of music called “Barbed Wire” is exclusive to Prince Tendai and it is generally believed that it is Prince Tendai’s music which gave birth to what is known as “Urban Grooves” music today.
He immediately took on the music industry by starting a music label, Hi-Density Records, and formed his own band Midnight Magic. He soon learnt how to package and promote music with assistance from established and experienced experts in the field such as Clancy Mbirimi. He then started investing heavily in the music industry when his company started a cassette duplication plant, inlay printing and music distribution departments.
Tendai, born on June 10, 1955, was not only a genius in music but soon proved to be an intelligent businessman as he started to interact with different musicians nationally and internationally. His Hi-Density label even signed on artistes who had made it elsewhere such as Kanda Bongo-Man from the DRC, Hamza Kalala from Tanzania, Toyin Adekale from the UK and MC Wabwino from Zambia.
He also co-ordinated successful and memorable music projects such as campaigns against road carnage as shown in “Bus Driver” where he sponsored the making of the single record and video featuring artistes like Oliver Mtukudzi, Simon Chimbetu, Biggie Tembo, Isaac Chirwa, Mechanic Manyeruke, Newman Chipeni, Robson Banda, Hosiah Chipanga, The Frontline Kids, Clancy Mbirimi, Joseph Madhimba, Kenny Mwanza and The Real Sounds of Africa.
Going back in time, Prince Tendai released several albums, the most notable being “Serious” with hits such as “From Zambezi to Limpopo”. This was followed by the albums Midnight Magic 2 and 3 with hit singles “Sweet Temptation”, “Amai Tendi”, “Problem” and “African Cowboy”.
As Midnight Magic grew in strength, the album which took the nation by storm, “Uprising” was created. It’s hit, “Character”, became a household sing-along song for a long time. There is still a big demand for this song even up to now.
It is this brilliant tune that saw Prince Tendai rise to greater heights when he was nominated for the Kora Awards ceremony which was held at Sun City in South Africa in September 1996. There Tendai rubbed shoulders with Africa’s musical giants such as Salif Keita, Miriam Makeba, Brenda Fassie, Kofi Olomide and Youssou N’dour. The following year, Prince Tendai won the Nama award of best video of the year.
Despite gaining national and international fame, Prince Tendai never forgot his roots.
In 1997, he created an album entitled “Mother and Son” dedicated to his mother and which featured the 75-year-old Ambuya Mupfurutsa performing on the album. That was remarkable and it set a few tongues wagging. This went to show how close Prince Tendai was to his mother.
For 10 years from 1999 until 2009, Prince Tendai was the chairman of the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (Zimura), an organisation formed to stand up for the rights of music composers.
Not only was Prince Tendai a musician, but he was also a dedicated music promoter who organised successful shows for South African gospel artistes such as Sipho Makhabane and Zairean rhumba maestro Kanda-Bongo-Man.
In 2010 with finances from his Ekhaya Petroleum empire, Prince Tendai ventured into bringing Akon and Sean Paul to stage a concert on September 4 at the National Sports Stadium in Harare.
This was attended by over 40 000 fans, but unfortunately made a financial loss due to poor organisation as only 1 400 had paid to attend the concert (according to figures released to me by Prince Tendai himself).
It is speculated that this became the source of his health problems as he was completely stressed out due to the financial pressures that were brought to bear through this venture. Immediately after the concert, he was involved in a car accident.
In early 2011 he sought medical help for the motor neuron disease that had developed and none was forthcoming locally. A decision was made to fly to Beijing, China, where he hoped he would get treatment. He came back in June, but his condition did not improve.
He went back the following month and was adamant that he would not return to Zimbabwe until he got better. Several trips by members of his family to China in a bid to convince Prince Tendai to come back home as they saw that his condition was not improving, failed. It took his elder brother, Amos Mupfurutsa, to finally make the difficult trip that convinced Tendai to come home. On Tuesday December 27 he arrived home and 10 hours later, he was no more. What a tragedy!
On a more personal note, I wish to say that I am greatly indebted to Prince Tendai for being such an outstanding example and an inspiration to many young people by showing his dedication and commitment and even trying to change the shape of the Zimbabwe music industry.
As Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai in his speech at Tendai’s funeral wake said: “Many parents did not like their children to get involved in music as it was seen as a career for vagrants (marombe). A lot of parents would beat up their children if they heard they were involved in music, but those who saw Tendai’s music career are today beating up their children in order to get them involved in music so that they end up being like Tendai.”
Tendai was indeed admired by us all. He loved life and it has come to an end rather too early. Many thanks Tendai for the wonderful contribution and lasting commitment to the ongoing changes in the music industry. I will greatly miss you. You left us with many little things to laugh about, many great songs to sing along and many great ideas to think about. May your soul rest in peace!
- Fred Zindi is a professor at the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a musician, a music producer and an author of several books on music. He can be contacted via e-mail on [email protected]
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