adminFred Zindi Music
The last time I visited Victoria Falls was in the company of Derrick Blackwood, a dreadlocked Rastaman from Jamaica who had come to Zimbabwe for a visit.
Derrick was a radical Rastaman. He even challenged Immigration officials on arrival at Harare International Airport asking them why they should ask for a passport from a black man. “Africans must be free to go anywhere in Africa without immigration controls,” he said.
On arriving in Victoria Falls, he saw the statue of David Livingstone, who is claimed to have discovered the Victoria Falls. He was vexed by this sculpture and decided to climb on top of it, then started to urinate on it. Everyone around that scene was amazed by this drama.
Two security guards, armed with batons on seeing this, rushed to the scene, ready to hit him with their truncheons. The first guard shouted in Shona asking Derrick to come down while the second was trying to climb the statue to bring him down.
Derrick, who was high on spliff, was not moved. He began to lecture these guys: “Hold on! Hold on! Listen to me! Let me enlighten you about whattagwaan here! Many years ago, Christopher Columbus went to Jamaica and wrote to the Queen that him discover Jamaica, but there were Arawak Indians who lived there. That was a skank, right?
“Now Livingstone comes to Africa. Him claim him discover Victoria Falls and name it after dem British Queen. Another skank, right? Him never discover the Victoria Falls. How about the people who lived here? Didn’t dem call dis Mosi-oa-Tunya? Black people, unless you come to dis realisation, you shall remain in dembomboclat chain,” he remarked.
The two guards who had stopped advancing towards Derrick looked a bit embarrassed and left him alone. They probably thought he was mad.
But that is a digression.
However, each time I think about Victoria Falls I cannot help remembering this scenario. The other thing that comes to mind each time I reflect on the goings on at Victoria Falls is the musical scene at the hotels.
We spent the night at the Victoria Falls Hotel. Derrick wanted a real traditional African treat. We ate sadza with ox liver, got entertained by traditional dancers and visited sangomas who were to forecast our futures.
Again, that is another digression.
Musical performance is what I am aiming at here. We dress up, with me in a black jacket, white shirt and a red tie while Derrick dressed in red, gold and green overall-like Rastafarian outfit.
We have a choice for a live musical act. The Harare Mambos are playing at Elephant Hills Hotel and Mandebvu are playing at Victoria Falls Hotel. I give Derrick a brief background to the performances of the two acts. I explain to Derrick that the word Mandebvu means ‘‘bearded man’’.
“Is all of dem wearing beard then?” he asked me and I replied “Yes”. “Dem should also wear dreadlocks and join the Rasta movement,” he added. We settle for Mandebvu for two reasons: First, I had only heard Mandebvu on radio but had never seen them perform live. I had seen the Harare Mambos before when they were resident at hthe Monomotapa Crowne Plaza Hotel in Harare and I knew that the Harare Mambos played mostly copyright stuff.
Secondly, because it is convenient to attend Mandebvu’s performance since they are playing at the same hotel in which we are resident. There is no need to travel outside the hotel.
The show opens with Brooks Mupawaenda giving a drum solo followed by a thumping bass from Israel Bhebhe. The rest of the band join in with Tapiwa Kawadza on guitar, Robert Manthenga on keyboards and Shylet Kunaka on vocals in an intimate setting.
The band performs the song ‘‘Gudo Guru Peta Muswe’’, a popular hit of the moment, which seems to be everyone’s favourite. Robert, who also doubles on the vocals and saxophone, then proceeds to explain the founding of the band and he describes how they came to Victoria Falls. (Robert is originally from Kwekwe). He also speaks of musical influences on the band, specifically citing the likes of Stevie Wonder, Mahotella Queens from South Africa,Thomas Mapfumo and Jonah Sithole.
As the next song begins, Shylet, the only female member of the band, walks onto the stage without an introduction. The five then move to a full band setting. From this point forward, the show moves in a regular fashion. Popular tunes are belted out left, right and centre with the crowd responding positively to hit after hit from their 1988 “MandebvuVolume One” album which was recorded by ZMC. by the original Mandebvu members who included Robert’s brother, Isaac Manthenga, and Lloyd Mungoshi, the backing vocalist. The songs come with a groove and lots of energy from ‘‘Farewell My Love’’, ‘‘Choose Somebody’’ to ‘‘Scratch My Back’’ which are sung in English, then ‘‘Qapela’’, ‘‘Ngixolele’’, ‘‘NgimthandeNjalo’’ and ‘‘Umhlaba’’, sung in Ndebele, after which a whole heap of Shona songs such as ‘‘Uri We Nhamo’’ ‘‘NdidewoNdide’’, ‘‘Inda’’, ‘‘RurimiRwa- Amai’’, ‘‘Indangariro’’ and ‘‘Epiphania’’ are churned out . . .
Each time a Shona song is sung, I act as translator for Derrick but I am at a loss with regard to the Ndebele tunes and Derrick takes me to task when he asks me why I never bothered to learn the language, yet the Shona and Ndebele people live in the same country. I have no satisfactory answer to give him except to blame it on my cultural upbringing which did not make it compulsory for one ethnic group to learn the other’s language. So we move on.
Mandebvu are not slow in letting the 200 plus audience up on their feet. Song after song, the crowd at first shows anticipatory excitement, sometimes after the first note, and enthusiastic appreciation with clappings after every song. There is a weird balance between the urge to show how unbelievably stoked the band is and the desire to quietly and serenely take it all in.
Far from remaining stoic, at the beginning when Robert Manthenga begins to sing with occasional bursts of colour in his stage moves, the motionless crowd is hung on every note, with many faces blissed out in rapturous contemplation. That does not stop a few hips from swaying during the jubilant “Gudo Guru Peta Muswe”.
In no time at all, everybody is on the dance floor but they do not sing along as they do not know the lyrics to most of the songs. It is the rhythm that moves them. However,the almost “all foreign’’ crowd does not care. They just appreciate the good melodies and rhythm coming from the band. I can see that on this night Mandebvu is out to conquer.
Robert Manthenga is undoubtedly the hero of the night, if not the all-weather frontman of the band. This is to be expected as he has come a long way in his musical experiences. Apart from being strong on guitar and vocals, he also plays keyboards and the saxophone.
Manthenga started playing guitar at the age of seven. His passion for music was so great that he used to sneak out of home to attend concerts by Mahotella Queens, Izitombi Zesimanje-manje, Mahlathini and most of the well-known South African musicians of that period.
At Highfield Secondary School, in Harare he became friends with former Dynamos Football Club goalkeeper Laban Kandi and together they formed a band called Dead Civilisation, which was later renamed Destiny. The band comprised the late Stanley Zimi, Brooks Mupawaenda, Christopher Mbirimi and Tanga wekwaSando.
Online Reporter