admininflexible approach to the rapidly changing nature of the music business.
Their drive to “keep music live” has led to robots being unable to mime to their “own” records, for example!
In the last couple of years, however, ZUM has made a renewed attempt to attract young musicians to its membership but they have not held any meetings or set up any regular seminars and workshops aimed specifically at young bands.
If they can substantially increase the number of musicians they represent at this level, they will be more effectively able to campaign for better pay and conditions for musicians on the club and pub circuit.
In the past, especially before independence, all musicians had regular work.
City of Harare (then called Salisbury), employed musicians and bands such as Groovy Union, Blacks Unlimited, Whitstones, Four Aces, Aces Wild Flower, Ngwaru Mapundu, The All Saints Band, St Paul’s Musami Band The Cosmic Four Dots and The Springfields to entertain patrons in almost all the Beer Gardens owned by the city.
The union had a strong input in this, but this power has apparently diminished in recent years as many musicians remain unemployed. Negotiations with City of Harare need to be resuscitated in order to once again give employment to Zimbabwean musicians. Besides, this entertainment will liven up our city again.
I am sure that if ZUM had taken an active role within the first 10 years of independent Zimbabwe, our music would have reached dizzy heights by now.
Instead it was the record companies which dictated terms to the musicians.
The urban grooves musicians tried to penetrate the industry but in vain as the record companies were only interested in sungura music. Even the gospel musicians ended up playing sungura.
That alone stopped the growth of music in this country.
The record companies were not interested in individual creativity, but were only interested in music which would give them sales.
Thus the Devera Ngwenas, The John Chibaduras, the Simon Chimbetus and the Leonard Dembos became their cash cows.
This, at the same time killed Zimbabwean music as only one genre was being promoted.
If ZUM controlled and gave service to the artistes, all music genres would have found an escape route and control by record companies of what people should hear could not have happened. Zimbabwean music would have progressed to dizzier heights by now.
What does the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians really stand for? It is my understanding that ZUM aims to represent musicians, negotiate on their behalf and improve their standing within the music industry, and help individual members.
They should be committed to trying to improve the ‘status and remuneration of musicians both absolutely and relatively’.
Services to their members should include general benevolent assistance, sickness or accident benefit, legal advice (contracts advisory service), instrument insurance, assistance in recovering unpaid fees from music promoters, a media rights collection and distribution service, and regular seminars, clinics and workshops on the Music business.
Any musician who is playing for money and is prepared to pay the yearly subscription rate should be eligible for membership.
In my opinion, an ideal musicians’ union should aim at protecting its members’ employment rights, give free advice on matters such as copyright, recording contracts, international associations and sources of funding, assist in establishing royalties agreements with recording companies, make sure that concert promoters deliver what they promise, assist with the funding of viable projects and organise an affordable pension scheme for all its members.
Members elected to serve on the union’s board should be competent people preferably people with skills in administration, financial and legal issues.
The union should have more power in deciding which of its members’ music should be played on radio and television, especially now with the Minister of Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, as their patron.
The union must be in a position to declare that if a musician wants to appear on television, or wants his/her video or music to be broadcast, he/she must be a member of ZUM.
This way DJs will be instructed to play only the music coming from ZUM members. Not only will the union be able to recruit more members this way, but will have a stronger say about the industry which they represent.
Musicians should be required to sign a declaration agreeing to conform by the rules and constitution of the union and pledging themselves to promote in all ways the interests of the union. Founder members of the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians at independence were Greenford Jangano who has now retired as a musician and now lives in Victoria Falls.
In the early 1980’s the Government released some funds to the union to purchase musical instruments to enable musicians to be more efficient in their performances as well as to perform at government festivities such as Independence celebrations and other government functions. However, the union was later riddled with disputes over allegations of misuse of funds and non-effective administration.
Musicians from outside Harare also began to complain that the union was not representing their interests. A few years later an attempt was made to create a national union of musicians, which included musicians from Bulawayo such as Paul Lunga, Michael Sekerani and George Salimu. The union’s headquarters was now in Bulawayo although the majority of musicians were in Harare. Sadly, the move was found to be unsatisfactory and it failed to bring the musicians together.
Today, the union is back in Harare with its headquarters situated at the Railway compound off Seke Road. Members in its administration include Michael Sekerani, Robson Nyanzira and Samaita Zindi.
In 2010, through a grant from the Culture Fund of Zimbabwe, a P.A. system was purchased together with backline equipment. This was meant to alleviate the pressure on the poor musicians who are always on the hunt for musical instruments, but I have not been able to establish the extent to which this equipment has been accessed by the ordinary musician.
It must be noted that musicians in Zimbabwe are still yet to form a strong union.
Big musical acts such as Oliver Mtukudzi, Alick Macheso, Tongai Moyo, have done it on their own without assistance from the union. This is a shame as these musicians have struggled as lone voices to get where they are today.
If a strong and united union of musicians had been formed earlier, a lot of musicians who have now passed on such as Biggie Tembo, Leonard Dembo, John Chibadura, Marshall Munhumumwe, Ephat Mujuru, Fanyana Dube, Jethro Shasha, Don Gumbo, Manu Kambani, Tinei Chikupo, Safirio Madzikatire, Jonah Sithole and Solomon Skuza would have received the recognition which they deserved in comparison to the haphazard way in which they were sent off.
In Britain, the Musicians’ Union is an organisation which represents over 30 000 musicians working in all sectors of the UK music business. The MU stages regular campaigns in relation to relevant musical and industrial issues. Recent campaigns have included protests outside theatres in response to the use of recorded music in shows where live music was advertised, and the anti-piracy campaign, an issue which continues to affect the music scene, particularly at grassroots level.
At one point the MU worked to bar US musicians from playing in British clubs. Today, any foreigner who wishes to perform in Britain must join the MU first at a fee which ranges from 30 pounds per person upwards. In short, the MU is a very strong organisation which ZUM must emulate.
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