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The city was once a hub of jazz music as one could find bands such as Submarine Band, One Plus One, Cassims Band, Cool Crooners and Jazz Impacto playing in different night spots dotted around the city. These bands have seen it all as they have sung with greats, the likes of Sankomota, Stimela, Hugh Masekela, the late Miriam Makeba, and Dorothy “Sis Dot” Masuka, among others.
However, due to a number of reasons these bands have essentially gone down, resurfacing in cameo roles as supporting acts for other musicians in their performances. Gone are the days when Sundays were set aside in Bulawayo for jazz nights as places that used to house the bands have stopped doing so.
Saturday Leisure this week bumped into one such a band, Tata Mojo which was formally Jazz Impacto. Band members said jazz was not dead but only needed to be promoted. They said the major setback with jazz was that it depended heavily on expensive and hard-to-find equipment.
“The jazz days can come back to Bulawayo if there is sponsorship and the city night spots see that jazz has the potential to make money from them. Our major setback is that we do not have equipment. Our original equipment was vandalised in one of the night spots we were playing at a long time ago. Now we hire and this is proving costly,” said Killer Phiri who is the band’s bass guitarist.
He said after their band leader Paul Lunga left for the United Kingdom in 1998, the local jazz scene had not been the same.
“Lunga went to London in 1998 and we continued as Jazz Impacto until in 2009 when we changed our name to Tata Mojo after the place we were operating from, Bulawayo Athletics Club’s Mojos. Lunga was the pioneer of many jazz festivals in Bulawayo and he would organise jazz groups to go to Harare to play jazz music there,” said Phiri.
He said hiring equipment was taking a chunk of money from the band and having their own set was better.
“We hire equipment wherever we play and some people take 50 percent of what we get. So if we get a gig that would give us $400, that means we have to give the one who has equipment $200 and we seven share the rest. We are in desperate need of band equipment. It will go a long way in getting us the much-needed income,” said Phiri.
The woman who leads the jazz melodies the band plays, Joice Nkomo, said if they get the equipment they would teach upcoming jazz artistes the ropes.
She said jazz would never die.
“We are saying that jazz music is evergreen and will not die. We are very much willing to teach the youth jazz music but our major setback is musical equipment. This music has to be passed from generation to generation in order for it to survive,” said Nkomo.
She said festivals were very important for the growth of jazz and as a band, they hoped one would be held in Bulawayo soon.
“We would be grateful to be slotted in these festivals like the Winter Jazz Festival in Harare so that we also play there. Bulawayo is the hub of jazz music and it would be a plus for the city if a jazz festival was held here. People believe that jazz is dead but it is not true,” said Nkomo.
She once worked with the late Solomon Skuza in songs such as Juba and Who is that Lady.
The percussionist of the band, Abraham Ncube, said jazz music was unique as it was impossible to change a jazz song into any genre of music.
He said the group was planning to record an album in the major languages spoken in the country to appeal to a wide audience.
“Jazz should be in the blood. You have to feel the music in you before and then you will appreciate it. Some genres can be changed into jazz but it is difficult and nearly impossible to change a jazz song into a sungura song, for example. We want to record an album that would be in English, SiNdebele, and ChiShona, but that is for 2014,” said Ncube.
He said the band practises in Bulawayo’s Entumbane suburb.
“We practise at 31586 Entumbane and this is where we polish up our act as there is nothing like ‘we have practised enough’. That is what is lacking in most young bands; they do not practise and afterwards they give out half-baked performances,” said Ncube.
The band members comprise seven members who are Phiri on bass guitar, Herbert Ndlovu on alto saxophone, John Gumbo on lead guitar, Nkomo the lead vocalist, Ncube on vocals and percussion, Charles Sibanda on drums and Simba Ncube on keyboard.
Online Reporter