Zimbabwe: Ngwaru's Messages Veiled in Humour

 

Zimbabwe: Ngwaru's Messages Veiled in Humour

The Herald (Harare)

November 22, 2006
Posted to the web November 22, 2006

Harare

TRYING to write about the omasganda who roamed the country from the 50s to the early 80s is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle some of whose pieces were misplaced.

What is available is their music preserved on vinyl or tape recorded at the then Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation where, once in a while, DJs dig deep in the dust and fish out the old cracked vinyl which they play.

Cracking and inaudible, the cheerful and carefree voices of the nomadic solo guitarists -- most of whom passed as clowns -- fight to be heard just as they fight to be remembered.

Living like vagabonds, the omasganda who were paid on a one-off basis for each song they recorded with RBC, used to change names when some or one of their songs did not do well on radio.

It was not clear why they did this, but it's believed that a new name would bring some luck.

So it was because of this belief that the late Ngwaru Mapundu, who sang such songs as Meso Piriviri Neshanje, Danda Rine Mago, Rent and Vekumatende took up the name Zvikaramba Toedza Zvimwe after experiencing difficulties in having his cuts played on radio.

He -- like many others -- was well-travelled, had seen how different people in different parts of country lived.

This was the experience the omasganda sought to share with others.

They teach, rebuke and poke fun at their subjects in a very "polite" manner and Ngwaru strove to bridge the past and the future.

Take Ngwaru's song Danda Rine Mago for example that was about following sprouting religious sects, which he likened to carrying a log infested with wasps.

This had everything to do with a people's culture and warned strongly against following religion blindly because doing so has serious repercussions.

The song Rent was about how difficult it was becoming for people to raise money for rentals.

The piece applies even now when most people's salaries are eaten up by rentals.

His Meso Piriviri Neshanje could also be something this generation needs to listen to because of various murder cases that result from domestic misunderstandings.

This fact gives the omasganda some relevance and turns their music classic.

Independence should have given the omasganda some respect and money but most of them found themselves marooned and were compelled to play in schools for a living.

Although this is not about Taurai Uzumba but the similarity between Ngwaru and Uzumba makes a comparison possible.

Uzumba, who is believed to have originated from Buhera, had so much about the area that he loved such that every one of his songs spoke about the greatness and nobility of the VaHera.

Like Ngwaru, he was one man whose messages were veiled in humour and delivered in the township lingo of the time.

Words like Makeyi for old man, wairasa (you have lost it) and some seemingly silly jokes that carried the ordinary person's day.

Ngwaru had a way of marrying township life with a rural background. He hailed from Mubaira in Mhondoro and had been raised in a polygamous family.

In one of his songs, he spoke about a farmer who after selling his crop was conned by makoronyera (conmen) who had promised him a scotch cart.

In another song, he brings in the element of a lazy son who marries a wife but then staying in the rural areas when he could not get into the field caused him headaches.

He, therefore, chooses to go to town where after some time, he forgets about the wife.

This is a common story but it's the way the omasganda tell their stories.

The most unfortunate thing about most of the omasganda is the absence of information as to where they came from and how they became omasganda.

It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle with missing pieces.