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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter
“MUSIC is my heartbeat and my life. I can’t survive without music.”
These are the words of Ruth Ndlovu-Mpofu, the Victoria Falls city-based Mosi-oa-Tunya High School music teacher who was discovered by the late Vice-President, Dr Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo in the mid-90s.
Today her name is synonymous with art and music in Victoria Falls. She has turned the school choir into a powerhouse, not only in the city but internationally as Mosi-oa-Tunya is the first name conference organisers think of whenever they want to hire musicians to sing the national anthem at state and international events hosted by the city.
Mosi-oa-Tunya High School choir has performed for Heads of State, international delegates, diplomats, and at high-profile occasions like Sadc and Africa an Union conferences and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)
But what makes the choir so dependable and the most preferred? The answer lies in the virtuoso in the form of Ndlovu (60) who was deployed to the school in 1998 as a young woman after she had just completed college education at Mutare Teachers College. She boasts of a diploma in music from Mutare Teachers’ College and a BSC Honours in Music and Musicology from Midlands State University.
Victoria Falls is well known for music and traditional dance groups that welcome tourists at ports of entry and hotels and more than 90 percent of them are Ndlovu’s products from Mosi-oa-Tunya High.
These include Mokoomba, Kweseka, gospel outfit Voice of Worship, Buhlebemvelo “Timmy Dee”, Top Kings and Donald of Mama Africa.
Ndlovu teaches choral and instrumentation and has planted a music seed in the resort city if not the country at large.
Born in Madlambuzi outside Plumtree Town, she derives inspiration from her husband Lameck Mpofu, a former teacher who has since retired and ventured into tourism and the late national hero Dr Joshua Nkomo who discovered her in Buhera where she was a student in 1996 and facilitated that she be deployed to Victoria Falls to lead music at state events and occasions. While in Buhera, Ndlovu was leading the school choir at an event where Dr Nkomo, then Vice-President, was officiating and he was impressed by her performance.
“I had a choir that sang in different languages in Buhera and Dr Nkomo asked who I was and where I came from seeing I was singing in almost all Zimbabwean languages. He was impressed when I told him I was once with him at Freedom Camp in Zambia and that I was from Plumtree and I was still a student.
“At that function Minister Sithembiso Nyoni was supposed to be part of his delegation but had been delayed so I ended up being made to interpret at the event and to spice it up I would put music interludes,” said Ndlovu.
When Ndlovu finished college, she was surprised that everything had been set for her to be deployed to Victoria Falls on a state mission to lead the singing of the national anthem at national and international events.
Her husband, who was stationed in Nkayi, was transferred to Victoria Falls for her sake.
“I had just completed a diploma in music and was about to join my husband who was stationed in Nkayi as a teacher.
I went to Mhlahlandlela and people who worked there started laughing. What I didn’t know was that a special request had been made for me to be deployed to Victoria Falls because there was no special choir to sing the national anthem for national and world leaders during state functions and events. So, in 1998 I was deployed to Mosi-oa-Tunya and from 1999 my husband and I started building a formidable choir together,” she said.
Her husband was not a music teacher but had a passion for music — he is the one that made Ndlovu realise that music was her calling. While Ndlovu grew up singing at family gatherings with her siblings, none of them was outstanding in music.
When her husband was a student at the United College of Education in Bulawayo, he would give her his music assignments so she could research and write for him because he knew she loved music.
He encouraged her to pursue music as a career and to apply for training which she did and was accepted at Mutare Teachers’ College.
From 1999, with the help of her husband, Ndlovu led the Mosi-oa-Tunya choir to entertain guests at various local, national and private events. Companies and event organisers would reward the school with various kinds of goodies and musical instruments.
At the recent National Association of Primary School Heads which was hosted by Matabeleland South but held in Victoria Falls, the multi-lingual Ndlovu and her choir sang the national anthem in Kalanga and Sotho, at the request of the host province.
“Dr Nkomo to me is not only a national hero but a Godfather. He took care of me and others when we were very young in the camp until we reached 17 years. Our camp had very young people and we were not allowed to go to the front as we remained in the camp doing other duties while also pursuing education.
“I joined the war at 15 years and he would come and interact in the camp and also counsel us. It was during that time that I realised that with music nothing can go wrong in life. When things got tough, we would find solace in music which inspired us. That is how music has impacted me,” said Ndlovu.
Ndlovu’s 15-year-old grandson, who is also a pupil at Mosi-oa-Tunya, sometimes conducts the choir when she is not around.
“I call our headmaster (Roland Sibanda) my son and he always tells me to look for someone who will fill my shoes when I am gone. I am doing this for my nation and I don’t demand anything from organisers of events when the choir performs.
“I want these learners to be patriotic and work for their nation. The school has however, benefited because when we perform, some reward the school and as we speak we have five sets of uniforms.
“When we get invited, we ask the organisers to give us their theme and we compose songs in line with their event.
I teach learners to mix lyrics and instruments. For continuity I make sure each year there is a mixture of juniors and seniors and I always encourage learners that when they come for choir sessions they are coming to refresh and as such music has become therapeutic at our school,” said Ndlovu.
At the recent National Association of Primary School Heads which was hosted by Matabeleland South but held in Victoria Falls, the multi-lingual Ndlovu and her choir sang the national anthem in Kalanga and Sotho, at the request of the host province.
She challenges Zimbabweans to emulate Dr Nkomo’s spirit.
“He didn’t segregate people on tribal lines, so his spirit should prevail and as Zimbabweans, we can go far if we emulate him. Anything we do, let’s sing it and lift our spirits as a nation,” she said. — @ncubeleon
Online Reporter