Here is what one mother said to me the other day, “You want to buy that music for the kids because you don’t fancy it yourself. What do you get? Tods singing sex, violence, ah! They call it ‘kukonzeresa’ .You opt for the Charambas.”
As we mended my cousin Zindoga’s car on some ill fated escapade to the Skies, in popped a lady and gleefully asked what befell our bonnet and windshield.Zindoga and I loosened up as we, at the same time, realized that she was from Masvingo! You know these guys! The most outgoing people in Zimbabwe. Don’t get me wrong, I am a Samanyika.
The young auto, Jasper, having contended himself had done justice to the wires, decided to bling around town.150 miles an hour in 20 seconds. Naturally he rammed into some pole. We did not want to recount the rest, we switched story.
“We bringing Roki down here. Watch him strut his stuff on stage. He is bad!” I beamed. She chuckled. Condescendingly of course. And retorted.”Eh wakashata chose. Munombotaurawo nawo here vakomana wenyu awa. Next time you meet him tell him he has made his point. He is a real man. Because vasikana vacho vanozomushaya here kuti ndiye” (kana arwara ne AIDS).This was in apparent ref to the much publicized pregnancy sprees doing the rounds. And as one weekly quoted him, he intends to have a band full of his kids only. Jackson 5?
My other buddy Cliff puts it rather frankly and bluntly, “All they think and sing about is found love and lost love.” Their woes and conquests in the love zone.
XQ, Roki, DJ Discord, Teererai, Edene! It’s fine to sing love but is it so eternal that you can ONLY sing about romance when Zimbabwe is burning of HIV/Aids, unemployment, corruption and absolute poverty?
Think outside your box! I commend Stunner for attempting it differently on his latest offering, KaLife (kemughetto) which epitomizes township blues. People can quickly identify with that.
Relevant lyrics are what make Tuku, Macheso, Chiwoniso and others evergreen. Let’s go green guys, I have gone green too. As we speak I have a garden teaming of Jatropha seedlings out in Headlands, Makoni.
Environmental friendliness! I gather the ZBH, sole broadcaster in the nation, has banned music which is sexually motivated, especially that which denigrates the wholeness of women. That is as it should be. Time people unwind from a mind which views women as sex objects!
Some dudes napped the downside are the hilarious Xtra Larg and many of their kinsfolk. They are baying loud.
Check this out, “Ndichakukisa zvakanaka munzveve, padumbu, patsoka wanzwa chiveve. Nakirwa taura chizevezeve.” What is this from XQ’s Ndokutevera?(An aside: At the ZTA Luciano show, Sniper had the cheek to demonize, word used correctly only this time, Suluma’s Nanhasi song to ,”Nanhasi, tinongodziputa mbanje, tinongodziputa mbanje-e.Hatineti kuputa-ah, Nanhasi…” And still wonders why he has to walk to town on foot everyday. He can’t get the connection.)
The sex black out, as noble as it seems, should be conducted objectively. It can’t be urban groovers alone under guilotine.Tongai Moyo is notorious for insinuating the “sele”dance on one of his recent numbers. I have not seen a dance as evil as that in recent times. See, if my cousin daughter, Shami, (two and half years old) wants to get everyone furious she simply bends over and goes through her paces “sele bamama sele”, chuckles and trots away. She can hardly run you know. The big stick approach just won’t work on her.
The ZBH should know that Tongai “Father Flower” Moyo’s video is no sacred cow. It should go!
The chant, “Iwe dzoka kumashure” plus the accompanying dance by Macheso’s Mberikwazvo are no benign to any being in public. If one decides to eat dog, eat it male. Banish Ndezvashe-eh’s Madhuwe from the air. Any one of these days fans will sanction some artists if they are clue less to limits. Ask Vee Taku Taku from Botswana .That one will tell you a thing or two about the Zim fan and sun. Too hot to hold.
Let’s take note, no matter how dynamic we are as a people, there are some eternal truths about us. We hail from a value system in which the subject of sex should be handled responsibly. That makes us unique.
I mean we can preach, if need be, through music that, for example, when adolescent girls broaden at hip, its nature’s way of preparing them for crucial adult roles. It’s not for shameless adults to salivate like hyenas at some queer Sipho Ncube-Mazibuko pageant. Nor for Nembo Buoy to rant, “Mai makabatana-a imi”. Women are not $200 000 bearer cheques.
It’s back to urban groovers again with the talk of Nembo. I have a soft spot for the youngsters.
Why should a corporate like SASOL see the need to support Kwaito in SA? Talk about social responsibility. On the part of the artist!
U-Groovers, act and sing responsibly .I do not see why Econet, Kingdom, Timberama, et al will not want to identify with you .And push you to the big times where they are. King Labash is getting help from PSI now. Haakonzeresi!
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