Musician Jangano dies

Tawanda Marwizi Arts Correspondent
Harare Mambos founder Greenford Jangano has died. Jangano, who was 80, succumbed to heart failure in Harare on Saturday. Family spokesperson Colins Jangano said the family has lost a man whose works were great. “Though he had retired from music his works helped a lot. “The family and the nation have lost a man who was a pillar in music,” he said. Jangano was the founder of the Harare Mambos, a band that made waves years ago.

They were the first local band to appear on a white-dominated television when television was first installed in Zimbabwe, around 1969. Green Jangano was born in Manicaland on January 13, 1935 and moved to Harare after his secondary education in pursuit of employment. While working at Portland Cement, he met William Chiguma, another musician and they teamed up to form a band.

Jangano started off as a lead guitarist in 1958, then a bassist in the 1960s and finally as a keyboardist in the 1970s. Green, as he was affectionately known by fellow musicians, met West Nkosi, a South African music producer at Cyril Jennings Hall in Highfield in 1959 where he was scouting for musicians to record.

The song “Zvanhasi Ngezveduwo” came immediately after. Green also worked with William Kashiri, who described his death as a great loss to the music industry. “He was just a good man who was not selfish. He had passion with music and that explains why we were a successful band,” he said. Mourners are gathered at number 52 Sproute Close in Hatfield.