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Bubelo Moyo
AS the youths of today would call him GOAT (Greatest of All Times), Bob Marley had been in the music hustle for 17 years when his love for Zimbabwe and his revolutionary spirit made him render his services for nothing to gain but positive vibes from the thousands congregated for the Independence Day celebrations, at Rufaro Sports Stadium.
“Oh boy take me back to the year 1979 Concert Santa Barbara when the Jamaican hero, Bob Marley and his revolutionary team, The Wailers, first performed live the song, Zimbabwe, which soon spread all over the country to be an anthem of the time.”
Reciting the above chronicle is the Rastafarian Japhet Mzilawempi Mgutshini (77), who takes a smoke break to snuffle his snuff powder then he continues to tell the liberation story at his Old Lobengula dilapidated semi-detached residence.
“With the Independence concert flyers carpeting the Southern Rhodesia towns in 1980, I told myself that I was never going to miss the one which Bob Marley was going to grace, as it was a victory celebration for all revolutionaries and the inauguration of the new Zimbabwe government, as we had now attained our Independence from the merciless Smith regime and now proudly Great Zimbabweans again.
“Indeed it was going to be a show of the century as it marked a milestone for all inhabitants of the motherland; we left the city of Que que, now Kwekwe, after work with my fellow Rasta brothers I used to work with at Ziscosteel, Redcliff for the capital, Salisbury, now Harare, heading for the Bob Marley Independence show which was going to take place at Rufaro Sports Stadium.
“To my surprise, when we reached our destination, the stadium was filled up to its limit as Bob Marley had offered to perform for free, undoubtedly this was his way of celebrating the much-awaited Independence of Zimbabwe that he had long advocated for through his records and live performances,” said Mgutshini.
The one-day concert ended up spilling to the next day as the Reggae king had to perform for those who did not get a chance to see his first-day showcase, for absolutely free.
The year 2020 marks 40 years of Zimbabwe’s Independence, the dynamic arts industry has been constantly evolving, the birth of new musicians, foreign genres adopted, and worth noting, the death and migration of Zimbabwe’s icons who influenced today’s arts local landscape.
The enigma today lies in how many artistes can perform for free in the name of patriotism just like the foreign Marley who rejected a performance fee and footed his travelling and lodging expenses to give a memorable presentation to the Zimbabweans who had filled up the 35 000-capacity stadia to its brim.
“When the Independence celebrations took place on 18 April 1980, we were in Harare, Chitungwiza as we had been invited to entertain the people there. This meant a lot for us and the people gathered to celebrate and we performed for free as we could afford to foot all our expenses back in the day.
“Things are different now, times have changed and it is so unfortunate that now we cannot perform for free as the economic situation no longer allows us to do so, we are struggling,” said the now Cool Crooners spokesperson George Salimu.
As the saying goes, history repeats itself, 2020 Independence Day celebrations will take Bulawayo residents back to the first liberation celebrations of 1980 which were held at Barbourfields Stadium though this time these will be the main celebrations that have traditionally been held in Harare.
Online Reporter