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Fred Zindi Music
There have been questions on why sungura music has managed to stand the test of time while other genres come and go.
Some genres seem to challenge sungura when they take the industry by storm, yet most of the genres eventually falter and sungura remains strong.
There was a period when we all thought kwasa kwasa had taken over Zimbabwean music, but who talks about Pepe Kalle or Kanda Bongo Man now?
Local bands who have tried to imitate this music genre have all gone under.
The same thing is happening with dancehall music. Very soon Zimbabweans will stop talking about Mavado, Elephant Man, Mr Vegas, Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Buju Banton or Sizzla and my prediction is that those who imitate these guys will also soon go under.
However, let us compare these two music genres.
Sungura, also referred to as museve is the most popular genre in Zimbabwean music.
Other genres outside sungura include Chimurenga music often identified with Thomas Mapfumo, jiti which was popularised by the Bhundu Boys and Tuku music associated with Oliver Mtukudzi.
Zimbabweans have also come up with minor music genres such as dendera, urban grooves, barbed wire and Afro-pop.
Sungura music became popular in the early 1980s.
It was pioneered by frontman Ephraim Joe and his band Sungura Boys which counted many notable future hitmakers such as John Chibadura, Simon and Naison Chimbetu (who later created a version of sungura known as dendera), Ronnie Chataika, Mitchell Jambo and System Tazvida as members.
The Khiama Boys emerged as natural successors to the Sungura Boys after their demise during the mid-eighties. Members would include System Tazvida (Rhythm guitar), Nicholas Zacharia (Lead guitar), Alick Macheso (Bass), Silas Chakanyuka (Drums) and Zacharia Zakaria (Sub Rhyhm guitar).
A great number of these artistes went on to forge successful careers with their own bands whilst Nicholas Zacharia has continuously been referred to as the Senior Lecturer of sungura music.
Other artistes such as James Chimombe, who played romantic ballads of the influential sungura guitar melody, Leonard Dembo,
Somandla Ndebele, Tongai Moyo and Leonard Zhakata had their own versions of the genre which remained consistently sungura to the core.
Mention should also be made of Leonard Zhakata whose musical project was a spin-off of the double play Maungwe Brothers, an act fronted by Zhakata and his cousin Thomas Makion.
The period 2000 until 2014 has been characterised by a wrangle for the crown for the kingship of sungura between the two great superstars of the decade, Alick Macheso and Tongai Moyo.
Tongai Moyo unfortunately passed away on the October 15, 2011 and left his son, Peter “Young Igwe” Moyo to try and take over the crown but he has found the going rather tough.
Other sungura artistes to come through this decade include former Zimbabwe College of Music student Joseph Garakara, Gift Amuli and Daiton Somanje.
Alick Macheso has risen to become one of the best sungura stars in the music industry with his popular Borrowdale and Kochekera dance routines.
System Tazvida, Simon Chimbetu, John Chibadura,Leonard Dembo, and Thomas Makion have all died and left us with their sweet sungura beats which have survived the years and I am sure their catalogues will survive for many more years to come.
Now let us move on to dancehall.
Dancehall is a type of Jamaican popular music which developed in the late 1970s, initially as a more sparse and less political and religious variant of reggae than the roots style created by the likes of Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Dennis Brown, Black Uhuru and Bunny Wailer that had dominated much of the 1970s.
In the mid-1980s, fast computerised beats known as digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall (or ragga) becoming increasingly characterised by faster rhythms with little connection to earlier reggae rhythms. Modern dancehall is also known as bashment.
Dancehall now refers to the digitised version of raggamuffin reggae, which is itself an ancestor of hip-hop music, and has since been influenced and re-combined with that style.
Dancehall reggae traditionally features a vocalist (referred to as a “Deejay”) reciting lyrics in Jamaican Patois over a “riddim”.
“Riddims” (rhythm in standard English) are themselves quite popular as they are easy to make through the use of computers.
While most dancehall performers are male, a small number of female vocalists have appeared in recent years, often performing their lyrics from an expressly feminist point of view in counterpoint to the notoriously male chauvinist style.
The same pattern is seen in Zimbabwe with male dancehall artistes dominating the scene.
Names such as Winky D, Dadza D, Killer T, Sniper Storm and Guspy Warrior are among the popular male dancehall artistes while the few women dancehall performers include Lady Squanda and Lady B.
There are essentially two types of dancehall deejay. The more common is the rough-voiced male vocalist, often describing his sexual prowess and lyrical abilities.
A second type is the smooth-voiced “singjay” (as they are sometimes known). Still performing over the traditional riddims. This type of performer is more inspired by RnB music and in fact sings, rather than chants his lyrics.
A good example is Mr Vegas. Occasionally, as in the duo of Chaka Demus & Pliers, the two performer types combine.
Zimbabwe’s dancehall artistes who have woken up to the dancehall style that imitate the Jamaicans wholesale. The only difference is that their lyrics are mainly in Shona.
The dancing styles such as “skinout” where dirty dance moves by semi-nude girls with boys simulating sex moves behind them have been condemned by many, yet Zimbabwean dancehall fans also imitate these.
The encouragement of ganja smoking and hate anti-battyman lyrics are also commonplace among dancehall artistes.
In Zimbabwe, Winky D is a visionary. He is a unique dancehall artiste as he preaches against ganja smoking among the ghetto youth as evidenced by his recent release, “Mafira Kureva” in which he despises the use of drugs among the youth.
He also preaches importance of oneness in music irrespective of genre.
The Ninja President shows his creative side by blending sungura with dancehall.
His latest track entitled “Sungura Like” shows the versatility of the dancehall maestro and the direction in which he now intends to go.
This is good and if Winky D continues to follow this direction and other artistes follow suit, Zimbabwe music will be richer and might even reach international level status.
I have listened to “Sungura Like” and the museve guitar on it is definitely sungura.
As BlackLab Records Press, who represent Winky D state,”The track also teaches the importance of Local-African focus and creating culturally acceptable content rather than imitating international music without due consideration of our morals and ethics as Zimbabweans or Africans”.
There is no doubt that with such creativity, Winky D has now hit the right note. It is a matter of time before his efforts begin to bear fruit.
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