Gweru maths teacher takes to music

Midlands Correspondent
MUSIC is a career to most artistes but for a Lower Gweru-based high school teacher, it is more of a passion.
The teacher, Simon Ngundu who has never looked back ever since he embarked on his musical journey in 2003, has just released his third sungura album, Tek-Tek Naye.
The sungura musician is supported by his group, Ochestra Pachedu, .
The talented artiste has somehow managed to strike a balance between handling the pressures of teaching O and A’ Level pupils at Maboleni High

School and churning out quality music as evidenced by his latest five track CD.
The CD was officially released onto the market last week.

In an interview yesterday, Ngundu, a mathematics teacher, said he has been working on his latest album for nearly a year.
He said he was driven mainly by his passion for music and was also inspired by his namesake, the late Dendera music maestro, Simon “Chopper” Chimbetu.

“Yes I am a teacher by profession, but I have had this passion for music since I was young. I drew inspiration from the late dendera king, Simon “Chopper” Chimbetu. My beat is sungura fused with some bit of dendera,” he said.

Ngundu said he was now working on a video for his Tek-Tek Naye album which he said had been well received by his fans.
“We have entered into a contract with one promoter who is marketing our latest album and our fans have welcomed the album, especially the title track, Tek-Tek Naye. We are now working on a DVD,” he said.

Ngundu  bemoaned lack of support for up-and- coming artistes in Zimbabwe which he said was one of the major hurdles threatening his career.
He said piracy was also another major challenge.

“The challenges we are facing as up-and-coming artistes is that we do not have much support especially from promoters as they prefer to work with well-established musicians. My situation becomes worse because I am based in the rural areas,” he said.

Some of the tracks on Ngundu’s latest album include Ndozochema, Nhamo yomurombo and Ane Wake.