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Lovemore Chikova Assistant Editor
You rarely hear them being played on radio nowadays, yet these were popular independence songs that marked the new beginning for Zimbabwe.
The message from these songs is still relevant up to today, especially in light of the 43rd independence anniversary whose national event is set for Mt Darwin on Tuesday next week.
The songs capture the independence mood, at the same time celebrating being Zimbabwean and what independence means.
And the names of the musical outfits were literally out of this world – you had Sugar Lump Jazz Band, Erosion Band, Wild Dragons, Progressive Band, The New Limpopo Jazz Band, The Wings Brothers, the list is endless.
Yet these bands, the singers and their music would have someone forgiven for thinking they never existed because they rarely receive airplay now, even during days such as these leading to the big day.
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D Mashamba and Sugar Lump Jazz Band – Toridza Mbira
This group came up with the song Toridza Mbira to celebrate how the liberation fighters had conquered white domination and culture by bringing independence.
The song mourns how people were being oppressed by the white regime and how they had liberated themselves from the yoke of slavery.
The song goes:
Toridze mbira dzekumatongo
Zvamunoona vakomana taidzvinyirirwa
Zigukurume (referring to Zanu which had the symbol of a cork) varume raponesa vana
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Edwell Maulana and Young Super Stars – Ndikomuredhi
The song exalts the bravery of liberation was fighters who sacrificed everything for the liberation of the country.
Maulana refers to the oppressive whites as thieves and witches that had been caught and stopped by the heroic liberation war fighters.
He sings:
Amai vana venyu vakashinga, vakabata varoyi venyika ino ndokusiya pachena
Amai vana venyu vakashinga, vakabata mbavha dzenyika ino ndokusiya pachena
Vana venyu makomuredhi
Sisi vacho ndikomuredhi
Bhudhi vacho ndikomuredhi
VaMugabe vacho ndikomuredhi
VaNhongo vacho ndikomuredhi
VaNkomo vacho ndikomuredhi
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Shuvai Wutawunashe and The Family Singers – Ipenye
In this song that was recorded in the early days of independence, which sounded more like a player, the iconic gospel music singer, Shuvai Wutawunashe was imploring Zimbabwe rise and shine and become a light to other countries.
He likened the country to a city built on a high hill which cannot be hidden.
Shuvai sang:
Guta rakavakwa pagomo, harivigwi rinoonekwa
Rinopenya, rinojeka, ngaipenyewo Zimbabwe
Ipenye muAfrica, Zimbabwe ipenye pasi pose
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Caleb Kadema and Erosion Band – Chasara Kubatana
In this song, Erosion Band speaks about unity following the country’s independence, not only within Zimbabwe, but with other African countries.
The band acknowledges that the war was over and the way forward now was unity.
This resonated well with the message of the time in which political leaders and other authorities were emphasising on unity at independence.
The band sang:
Hondo yakarwiwa kare muno muZimbabwe
Chasara chete tinoda kubatana
Vakomana nevasikana, baba nana mai chasara chete tinoda kubatana
Mozambique tinoda kubatana nayo
Tanzania tinoda kubatana nayo
Africa tinoda kubatana nayo
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Sons Takura and Wild Dragons – Garai Zvakanaka muZimbabwe
This song simply encouraged people to live together in harmony following the coming in of independence.
Takura says people should not hate each other, look down upon each other or fight against each other.
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S Mupakaviri and Progressive Banda – Nharadada
Progressive Band was one of the popular musical outfits soon after independence and in this song, the band was chiding the whites who falsely thought Zimbabwe was their territory.
The band calls the whites with different names – oppressors, thieves and colonisers – who were too late in their plans because independence had already come.
The song goes:
Vapanduki makanonoka imi
Nyika ndeyevanhu makanonoka, Zanu inotonga
Imi mbavha makanonoka imi
Nharadada makanonoka imi
Vapambepfumi makanonoka imi
Vadzvinyiriri makanonoka imi
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Cyril Shoniwa and Spiders Band – Gidi Ishasha
This was a Zimbabwean independence song that was broadened to include the region.
Shoniwa sings that Angola, Mozambique and Zimbabwe got independence without the wishes of the whites, and it was in the same manner that Namibia, Azania (South Africa) and all African countries were to be liberated.
Negotiations for independence had failed until the people took up the gun, he sings.
Gidi ishasha zve sure
Gidi rinotonga chete
Takazonotora sub (machine gun), vakainzwa iyo haina hurukuro baba
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Safiriyo Madzikatire – Makomuredhi
In this song, Madzikatire, also known as Mukadota in his humorous drama episodes, was thanking the liberation war fighters for the role they played in liberating Zimbabwe.
He says people were now free to travel to their rural areas because movement was no longer restricted in an independent Zimbabwe.
Mukomuredhi handikanganwe mukomuredhi
Shamwari huya uone makomuredzi
Makomuredzi akanunura Zimbabwe
MaChristmas toenda zvedu paruzevha
Ma holiday toenda zvedu paruzevha
Mukomuredhi akandirwira mukomuredhi
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Staben Mawire and Progressive BandaThe New Limpopo Jazz Band – Zimbabwe Inyika Yababa
By coming up with this song, The New Limpopo Jazz Band was aiming at restoring hope among Zimbabweans after being oppressed for so long by the whites.
Independence, according to the band, brought many positives including peace, education, joy and political power.
John Kazadi and The Wings
Brothers – Zimbabwe Yakanaka
In this song, The Wings Brothers band was singing about the beauty of Zimbabwe, the peace prevailing in the country and the unity that followed the coming of independence.
The main lines in the sing were:
Ndaenda hee, ndaenda kuZimbabwe
Amai hwee, Zimbabwe yakanaka
Runyararo muZimbabwe
Tibatane pamwe chete
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Daina Dzikira – Kumbe Kumbe
In this song Daina, mourns the oppression that existed before independence and how liberation fighters fought to end the bad system.
There was nowhere to hid before independence – in caves there were lions, in the bush there were leopards, in the rivers there were crocodiles and in towns people were not allowed there, she sang.
She then thanks those who fought the liberation struggle to end these problems with the coming of independence.
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Gerald Mhishy and Mike Madamombe and Ebony Fire – Nyarara Komuredhi
This song was aimed at comforting liberation war fighters and the general populace following human loses recorded in the liberation struggle.
Ebony Fire particularly mentions the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) commander Cde Josaya Tongogara who died in a car accident in Mozambique just before independence.
Ndiyo nguva yakafa Josaya, wakatozofa kutonga kosvika
Ndiyo nguva yakafa Josaya, wakatozofa utonga hotsuka
Ho chinyarara
Chinyara Komuredhi nyarara
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Tineyi Chikupo and Mother Band – Pamberi Nemugoti
The veteran musician thought of praising women for the role they played in fighting for the liberation struggle through using their cooking sticks to prepare food for the liberation war fighters.
This role is sometimes overshadowed by the bravery of the liberation war fighters whose heroic exploits are often retold more than what women did to facilitate the war.
Chikupo sang:
Pamberi nemugoti madzimai, imi makashanda umu muZimbabwe
Takarwa hondo vasikana umu muZimbabwe
Hondo yeChimurenga, hondoka yakashata
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Robson Kaitano and The Hard Spirits – Tambai Kongonya
A feel joy song that captured the celebratory spirit that engulfed the country at independence, with people dancing and ululating at the thought that they were now liberated.
Kongonya was a dance popularised by the liberation war fighters and Kaitano was encouraging people to get down and boogie.
He sang:
Vana mai, tambai tambai kongonya
Vana baba, tambai tambai kongonya
Nhasi zvapera, tambai tambai kongonya
Tave ne mufaro, tambai tambai kongonya
Pese pese, tambai tambai kongonya
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Job Mashanda and Muddy Face – Rakukuridza
This is a triumphant song that starts with a cock crowing (with the cock being the symbol for the then Zanu), and it went:
Jongwe rakakunda, bereka mwana tiende chauya chauya
Jongwe richatonga, bereka mwana tiende chauya chauya
Pamberi neJongwe, bereka mwana tiende chauya chauya
Bereka mwana tiende, Zimbabwe yauya
Hona mukoma Nhongo, bereka sub tiende hondo yapera
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Job Mashanda and The Muddy Face – Zuva Rakabuda
In this song, Job Mashanda likened independence to the coming of a new dawn, the sun rising and shining brightly on, not only Zimbabwe, but Africa as a whole.
He sang:
Guruva rinomona, zuva rakabuda munyika medu
Tichifarira isu nyika yokwedu
Tose ngatifare munyika medu
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