adminFred Zindi Music
Sungura will never go away although its players may come and go. 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? David Mungoshi, a former Linguistics lecturer at the University of Zimbabwe and a well-known author posed this question to me: “Do you think the rise of Zimdancehall has overtaken all the music genres in Zimbabwe?”
In response, I asked Mungoshi a simple question, “If we advertise a concert by Oliver Mtukudzi and another by Soul Jah Love to appear at different venues on the same day, who do you think will draw a larger crowd?”
The answer is obvious.
Yes indeed, Zimdancehall has brought its own crowd especially among the ghetto youths who never used to attend concerts before. But no, the Jazz crowds are still there; the Tuku music crowd still exists; Jah Prayzah has his following, and of course, the Sungura crowds still flourish. In short, every music genre has its own crowd. This is what music promoters ought to learn fast.
First of all I must confess that the music industry is not an easy one especially today with people being kicked out of work at three months’ notice.
Music fans no longer have disposable income to buy CDs or to attend concerts which the music business depends on.
Many years ago, I saw people like Dr Oliver Mtukudzi struggle to the point of wanting to give up, but he persevered until he made it.
It is true that the majority of Zimbabwean youths seem to have fallen in love with this genre known as Zimdancehall.
Almost all townships seem to be enjoying this type of music. Dancehall seems to be the most popular type of music judging by the amount of play the music is receiving from radio stations, at various bars, night clubs and shops.
This scenario seems to be different from previous years where music by Sungura icons — Alick Macheso, Suluman Chimbetu, and the late Tongai Moyo among others — were the toast of all festivities.
In my opinion, Sungura is still the Zimbabwe brand especially among the mature folk while Zimdancehall is the genre a lot of young people follow today.
Sungura will never go away although its players may come and go. 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 Charly Black and my prediction is that those who imitate these guys will also soon go under. However let us compare the two music genres, Sungura and Zimdancehall:
Let me start with Sungura.
Sungura, sometimes referred to as Museve is a 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 Dr Oliver Mtukudzi. Zimbabwean musicians have also come up with minor music genres such as Dendera, Urban Grooves, Kwela, Barbed Wire, Jazz and Afro-pop.
Sungura music became popular in the early 1980s. It was pioneered by front man Ephraim Joe and his band Sungura Boys which counted many notable future hit makers 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 rhythm 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 2015 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 October 15, 2011 and left his son, Young Igwe, Peter 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 the late 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, Daiton Somanje, 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. To make dancehall more relevant to Zimbabwe, the artistes have called it Zimdancehall. Names such as Soul Jah Love, Winky D, Dadza D, Killer T, Sniper Storm, Kinnah, Seh Calaz, Ricky Fire, and Guspy Warrior are among the popular male Zimdancehall artistes while the few women Zimdancehall performers include Lady Squanda, Bounty Lisa and Lady B.
There are essentially two types of dancehall deejays. 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 R ‘n’ B 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, singer and chanter, combine.
Zimbabwe’s dancehall artistes who have woken up to the dancehall style 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.
However, the rise of ZimDancehall in the last two years should not render jazzmen, sungura musicians and mbira practitioners useless as each genre has its own captive audience. Indeed ZimDancehall has given plenty of opportunities to ghetto youths.
People like Tocky Vybes, Beverley Sibanda, Ricky Fire, Seh Calaz, Kinnah, Lady Squanda and many ghetto chanters never dreamt that some music promoters would be interested in them enough to fly them out of Zimbabwe to give perfomances in the U.K., but through the Dancehall genre, this has been possible.
Some Sungura musicians on seeing this have tried to adjust their music to attract Dancehall fans. Others have gone to the extent of incorporating Dancehall chanters on their sungura albums.
A good example is Sulumani Chimbetu with Soul Jah Love on his “Nyuchi” tune. If this trend continues, we will be left with no other music but Dancehall throughout Zimbabwe which some mature audiences have not yet adjusted to.
It is also interesting to see that even the former deputy minister of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Fortune Chasi, has also become a Zimdancehall artiste after doing collaborations with Killer T on ‘Zimbabwe Ino’ and with Guspy Warrior on ‘Life Haisi Easy’ respectively.
Despite the rise in Zimdancehall music, Mungoshi and others will be pleased to know that in Zimbabwe there is still room for every genre of music.
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