Like father, like son

played for groups like The Other Four, Assegai Crew, Pablo and Friends and Rute Mbangwa among other local jazz groups.
His love for music and the guitar can be traced back to his father, the late Emmanuel Jera, who was a band member with Thomas Mapfumo’s Black Unlimited.
“Growing up in the high-density suburb of Mufakose, a passion for music has always been in my genes.
“I learnt the guitar basics from my father when he was still alive and I really became inspired after his death,” said Jera.
Emmanuel Jera played the lead guitar on the tunes “Nyoka Musango” and “Pamuromo Paharuma” and is credited for being the first black person to teach music without qualifications at the Zimbabwe College of Music in the early 1980s.
He died in September 2007 and had also played with Jonah Sithole before his death.
In music circles, the young Jera is known as Maselo and attended Mutiunokura Primary School in Mufakose before completing his Ordinary Levels in 2008.
“I never took the guitar seriously despite having a genius at home. I really got involved (in music) more after he died,” said Jera.
Maselo has never passed through formal music training but nonetheless he is destined for greatness.
“The likes of Mono Mukundu and Elder Fari of Summer Breeze and Jimmie Buzuzi have introduced me to the genre of jazz which is for the mature audience and I fell in love with it,” said Maselo.
At present, he plays lead guitar for Dino Mudondo and besides being a session musician, Maselo in working on his own music. He plans to release his debut album that he said has a fusion of jazz and what he terms the “Zimbabwean guitar” and focus on the arrangement of instruments of, mainly the lead guitar but with limited vocals.
“The recording process has been long because I want to produce a thoroughly polished and quality product that should appeal to the local and international market.
“I am working with two producers – Mono Mukundu and Blessing of X-Studio,” said Jera.
The self-titled album features eight tracks that focus on love, praise and worship. “My favourite song ‘Ehuwe’, talks about the relationship between a couple separated by time distance,” said Jera.
Other tracks include “Chipo cheUpenyu” and the title track “Maselo”.
He has done some shows at Book Café to promote his forthcoming album and said he draws inspiration from his late father, Manu Jera, Louis Mhlanga, Earl Klugh and Wes Montegomerie.