Zimbabwe: Musicians Brave Ban to Record Protest Album

 

Zimbabwe: Musicians Brave Ban to Record Protest Album

Zimbabwe Standard (Harare)

COLUMN
November 6, 2006
Posted to the web November 6, 2006

Foster Dongozi

SEVERAL high profile Zimbabwean musicians have come together to produce a social commentary on the hardships affecting the country.

This is expected to result in their music being banned from State radio and television networks within the next few days for being "unpatriotic".

The album is called Ngazvitaurwe-Lingathuli -- Speak Out.

Led by Leonard 'Karikoga' Zhakata, the posse of musicians includes mbira queen and songstress Chiwoniso Maraire, Steve 'Dhongi' Makoni, poets Innocent Batsani Ncube and Raymond Majongwe, Chirikure Chirikure, Patience Musa, Willom Tight and Dino Mudondo.

According to a message on the CD cover: "This compilation album was inspired by the unique situation the people of Zimbabwe are in. The country is facing a serious economic and political crisis. Many are suffering but none is speaking. It is as if the people have come to accept the abnormal as normal. The artists on this album see silence as the thickest nail on the nation's coffin."

The CD opens with the title track on which the artistes ask Zimbabweans for how long they will continue to be silent, especially after the destruction of their houses in 2005 and watching the collapse of all sectors, especially health and education.

Majongwe chips in with a reminder: "Umntwan' ongakhaliyo ufel' embelekweni. Mwana asingacheme anofira mumbereko."

Chiwoniso appeals to the spirits and ancestors to intervene in the affairs of a country where mothers are beaten in political violence.

The second song is by a defiant Musa, who declares she has to shape her destiny and will do that by speaking out.

Next is Chirikure's Chamupupuri, a poem backed by mbira rhythms bemoaning that the winds of change blowing across Africa have turned into whirlwinds that have destroyed children and places of worship.

Other top songs on the compilation include Gogogoi by Tight and Mudondo, featuring Hosea Singende, and Masihambeni by Majongwe and the sombre yet light-hearted masterpiece, Gallant Zimbabweans by Ncube.

However, the song likely to receive the most attention is Makoni's Ndiani ati go? In the song, he moans about the levels of intolerance that have seen brother murdering brother and sisters turning against each other.

Zhakata's catchy Tine Vimbo is about the hope that all Zimbabweans have that one day, surely, things will improve, that better days are coming.

The song of the queen of Zimbabwean traditional music, Maraire, -- Vana vanogwara-Mudzimudzoka -- could make a lot of politicians feel very uncomfortable. In the song, she appeals to the ancestors to intervene in the chaos prevailing in the country. She appeals to the ancestors and the spirits of liberation heroes and heroines to come back and guide the people of Zimbabwe towards a righteous path.