dyton mupawaenda
SUNGURA musician Mark Ngwazi’s relatively young music career has been dominated by reports he is on mission to dethrone Alick Macheso by imitating the veteran artiste and this has, at times, overshadowed his own hard work. He has also generated social media scrutiny for his lyrics with some claiming he rides on WhatsApp jokes for content. H-Metro’s REST MUTORE sat with Ngwazi to get answers to some of the issues.
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Q: Mark, congratulations on the success of your recently released album. How do you feel?
MN: I just want to thank God, I never expected such a massive response. There are a lot of good musicians in Zimbabwe, and if people pay attention to your work, you have to appreciate it and thank God.
Q: I realised your bookings have increased, is it because of the new album?
MN: Yes, whenever an artist releases an album, bookings increase, and I am happy about that. But it’s not like we were not having shows all along, we mostly work with the corporate world.
Q: Despite all the current success, others say you mainly sing trivia and jokes. Hanzi unoimba nyambo dzapa WhatsApp.
MN: I think people need to be taught kuti chinonzi nyambo chii? Nyambo ingano, paiva naTsuro naGudo, that’s nyambo, zvinoreva kuti ngano. Those are interesting tales that doesn’t happen in real life. But I’m singing that, ‘sei uhibva waudza vanhu pakadzika dzika, dzimwe nzendo taurai madzoka’. That’s not ngano, to me it’s not a joke, I can sing something that make people laugh but you wont’ see me laughing. A joke to one person is not a joke to the other person. In real life, people around me always laugh when I say something, and I just do the same when composing songs.
Q: Others also feel you lack originality.
MN: Every person is free to say whatever they think, manzwiro anosiyana. Those people might be right or wrong, what is important to me is the number of people that are appreciating my work, which is the case with this album. Of course, there are a few that feel otherwise, people are different.
Q: Personally I appreciate some rich messages within your songs. What’s the inspiration?
MN: People talk about the message that you gave them, not the guitars or the melody. So as an artist I told myself that I have to make sure that I deliver a rich and meaningful message. I sing issues that affect people in their day to day lives, experiences that I encounter every day and also stories that I hear out that.
Q: You claim to have so many songs ready to be released.
MN: They are actually more than 500, I spent most of my time alone, ndiri kumunda kwandinombobata bata. So I use that time to compose songs. Besides I’m still young and I still have the energy to write songs.
Q: Now what’s you take on the comparison that you get with artists, in particular Alick Macheso?
MN: My music cannot be compared with other artists because what we sing is different, umwe akaimba zvedombo umwe oimba zveshiri how can that be compared. I also don’t sing for competition.
Q: Your army of fans say you are now the king of sungura?
MN: People might get me wrong on this one, but maonero angu vanhu vese vanoimba sungura hapashaye anonzi king of sungura. I might be a king of sungura to one person, the same with all other sungura artists.
Q: Mark, do you agree with those calling you the king of sungura? Are you the king of sungura?
MN: The good thing is you have never heard me saying I’m the king of sungura, or I’m at the top of the resto and others follow, even my band member, or chanter saying that. This is because I don’t sing for competition or to be on top.
Q: And who is the king of sungura?
MN: All sungura musicians can be kings of sungura. It depends with the people that are supporting you as an artist. I didn’t venture into music for money, but I have to appreciate that I’m now making ends meet out of music. So ne trailer yandinayo kumashure and also I don’t know kuti ndichafarirwa kusvika kupi, I don’t have time to fight or compete with other artists.
Q: There seem to be a war of words on social media between your fans and those of Alick Macheso.
Mark Ngwazi
MN: I won’t interfere or control what fans say. These guys are using their data, and they are always enjoying themselves so I don’t think I have control. But we are different with fans as artists, as artists we don’t have bad blood, we don’t fight each other. I don’t have any bad blood with mdhara Macheso. Have you ever heard me saying anything bad about him or undermining him? I respect every artist from Thomas Mapfumo to Ras Pompy.
Q: But what’s view on the perceived war?
MN: We used to do the same before I was a musician. That time Alick Macheso, Tongai Moyo, Somandla Ndebele were doing well. I used to have my favourite artist then, and we would exchange words as fans, it’s something that existed over the years. It’s not a war of swords but it’s something that makes music interesting for them. When someone criticise me, I actually pay attention to that and correct if there is need. Those who say Mark Ngwazi is not good enough it means they have listened to my music, that’s important for me.
Q: There are reports of bloggers, who are being sponsored by artists to de-campaign other artists. Are you aware of that?
MN: If there are people who are doing that it’s bad, it’s wrong. But, what I think is there are a lot of fans in Zimbabwe, millions of them, so surely to say an artist azopedzwa naBlogger wepa Facebook doesn’t sound sense to me. Even myself, I don’t think ndingapedzwe nevanhu vepa Facebook. Sungura fans are all over the country, from different backgrounds, others without even access to internet. You can be insulted by 1000 people on Facebook and go on to fill up venues. Some will say If you come here we will stone you, but when you get there they dance the night away. Dai maArtists arega kupinda nemoyo paSocial media. I used to respond to social media until realised that I was wasting my time.
Q: Can you clarify on the issue of Barnabas Mandipota, now at Orchestra Mberikwazo? Was Barna snatched from your band?
MN: Barna didn’t start at Njanja Express. He worked with a number of artists before. He was with us for four years as a drummer. So the truth is we suspended Barnabas and he went on work with another band and then went kwaBaba Sharo after. The truth is Macheso didn’t snatch him from us.
Q: Why did you suspend him?
MN: We gave him money to acquire a passport and he misused it. We knew he was a key member especially when we get international shows. We confronted him and he was arrogant. So we suspended him.
Q: So is he (Barna) the one you denounced on the song Munhu Mutema? There is a section of fans that believe that too?
MN: I don’t have time to attack someone using a song. If you listen to every song, you would see that it suits a certain situation. The song Munhu Mutema is clear, it’s just addresses people who are not grateful.
Q: There is a talk of bad blood between you and your younger brother Tindo Ngwazi.
MN: I worked with Tindo and we are still working together but differently. Tindo is my younger brother, ndini ndakamusiira zamu, baba naMai vamwe chete. So there is no way we can fight and not talk to each other.
Q: But this is not new, we have seen and read about that before. We also read about your issues.
MN: I supported Tindo on a number occasions including his participation at Chibuku Road to Fame. I registered and wrote songs for him. He also helped me a lot, he is the one who bought my first guitar when he was with Police, so nothing can divide us now.
People can quarrel but that doesn’t mean mavengana. There are fans and enemies out there who just want to see us fight or divided. He formed his own band because he had won at Chibuku Road to Fame and he got a contract to record an album. There is no way we would take a video and say maiti hationani. If you want to prove a point you don’t have a point. What is important for us is to look after our parents and families together, and we are doing that. If we fight, we will confuse our parents and our fans.
Q: Now talk us through the period before you ventured into music. How did that happen?
MN: A lot of things happened before, I will only talk of my experiences in Harare. I would say it was a mistake for me to come to Harare because of the life I endured. My parents did everything to take care of us and things turned up-side-down when I came to Harare. Because of the situation, I ended up doing basa rese rese. Ndakambobika sadza kumbare tichidya sadza neSoup and at the weekends taizopihwawo maVegetables, nyama taitoziva kuti hapana. The money I got from that I managed to but a belt.
Q: What was your worst experience?
MN: I think you can choose that on your own (laughs). But there is a day I entered a ladies’ toilet by mistake in Mbare. So kuti ndichibuda vakadzi veku Mbare vanorova, I pretended to be mentally ill and removed my clothes and started picking up food in bins kuti ndisarohwe. They shouted benzi iro ngaribve muno, ndobva ndamhanya ndikanozopfekera hembe kumberi.
I used to clean toilets and my pay was 10kg of mealie meal every two weeks. I once stayed alone in Magaba, Mbare without blankets, sleeping on the floor. At one point I sold the shoes that I was putting on and bought some slops. That money sustained me for six days. My parents were not aware of all this and they were not going to be happy about that situation.
Q: Your story as a security guard?
MN: Yes, I once worked as a security guard, walking from Mbare to Borrowdale, that’s around 2008, I’m sure. Life was tough, I would choose time to eat on different days. Nhasi ndikambodya masikati, the other day manheru, that meant I had a single meal per day. I did a lot, ndakatombotengesa lipstick Mbare yese. I worked for at a certain company operating a boiler, apa ndikati ndagara ndiri mutema, uchishanda futi nemarasha.
At that company, we were only getting tea, and there were vendors selling home-baked bread (chimodho). So we used to get some on credit and pay when we get paid on Fridays. So when I got paid, I managed to settle zvimodho zvitatu ndikasra nechikwereti, ndakabva ndasiya basa ndikatoenda nechikwereti chemunhu. I told myself that so when I get paid the following week, I was going to settle zvimodho zvekumashure, meaning ndakutoshandira zvimodho, ndakabva ndasiya basa.
Q: So what happened to be where you are now?
MN: I’m actually surprised with my status now. That is when I realised that prayer works, ndanga ndavakuziva number dzemaporofita akawanda nemusoro because I was really confused with my situation.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter