Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Zimbabwe crumbles, yet the music plays on
I received the following article from my dear friend Steve Sparx in Zimbabwe last week, and with all the news that we've been hearing about how Zim is collapsing, he gives us scary insight into what life is like that at the moment!
Well blow me down with a feather duster…. I got back to Zimbabwe and there it was…the extra nought. Perhaps at this point to talk of survival is almost too abstract , the facts on the ground are alarming.
It has gone stir crazy - just last Friday the price of petrol went up 4 times in a day at one service station - at the end of the day it was 50% more expensive than the start. Prices are changing as I write so to give too many examples would be worthless as they will be out of date before you can say “so how does the ‘simply add a nought’ school of economics work?”
I bought some CD’s for stock last week because the price was going up 50% the next day, the same amount it went up the week before and the week before that too. But I was lucky, they went up a further 80% this week.
Bracing for increases is a daily thing, there needs to be a move towards paying everybody daily - money needs to be disposable, spending what you have has become the order of the day.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to guess who is being seriously affected - the poorly paid artist of course but still, the show goes on.
All the talk locally is about the upcoming album from the king of Sungura music - Alick “Razor” Macheso.
This particular style of Zimbabwean music is the “working man’s music”. You will hear it at every bottle store, and shopping centre and in the minibuses and on the radios all day, all over Zimbabwe.
The style was adopted shortly after independence in the ‘80’s and the groove appears to have been imported from Congo and Malawi, although the lyrics are all in Shona (and mostly proverbs) - it was the new style of music for a new era in the post independent country and was rapidly popularized by the likes of the late Simon “Chopper” Chimbetu and Leonard Dembo.
With it’s constant bass drum beat, chattering hi-hats and snazzy rolls, and rapid fire guitars; the music is characterized by a 4-5 minute introduction where the lyrics are introduced with the riff going along; thereafter there is a further 6-10 minutes of guitar/bass/drum lead section - during which time the dancing happens.
The groups normally comprise 2 or 3 lead/rhythm guitars, bass guitar, drums, lead singer, 2 backing singers and perhaps 3 dancers who have there own particular style of dress and hairstyle (sometimes bleached and with ‘nicks’ in their eyebrows). They lead the audience with the dance routines. The most popular dances are the “Borrowdale” (named after the local horse racing track where they imitate a horse running) and an offshoot “Razor” dance (something to do with barbed wire) - both of these have been made popular by Alick Macheso and both involve some natty footwork and body movement.
So to the new album… when Alick releases it is expected to sell hundreds of thousands of units - with a large portion of sales being made up of cassettes -still popular in households throughout the country. Every member of a family would want to own an Alick album so all ears are tuned to the new release which, for the first time , he has had recorded in South Africa and will be accompanied by a DVD.
This guy appeals to a legion of fans and his shows are a real blast. There are 2 launch gigs set for the coming 2 weekends - I will let you know how they go.
That’s the word from the Zimbabwe music scene - until next time gotta go I feel another “nought’ coming
Sparx
Well blow me down with a feather duster…. I got back to Zimbabwe and there it was…the extra nought. Perhaps at this point to talk of survival is almost too abstract , the facts on the ground are alarming.It has gone stir crazy - just last Friday the price of petrol went up 4 times in a day at one service station - at the end of the day it was 50% more expensive than the start. Prices are changing as I write so to give too many examples would be worthless as they will be out of date before you can say “so how does the ‘simply add a nought’ school of economics work?”
I bought some CD’s for stock last week because the price was going up 50% the next day, the same amount it went up the week before and the week before that too. But I was lucky, they went up a further 80% this week.
Bracing for increases is a daily thing, there needs to be a move towards paying everybody daily - money needs to be disposable, spending what you have has become the order of the day.
One does not have to be a rocket scientist to guess who is being seriously affected - the poorly paid artist of course but still, the show goes on.
All the talk locally is about the upcoming album from the king of Sungura music - Alick “Razor” Macheso. This particular style of Zimbabwean music is the “working man’s music”. You will hear it at every bottle store, and shopping centre and in the minibuses and on the radios all day, all over Zimbabwe.
The style was adopted shortly after independence in the ‘80’s and the groove appears to have been imported from Congo and Malawi, although the lyrics are all in Shona (and mostly proverbs) - it was the new style of music for a new era in the post independent country and was rapidly popularized by the likes of the late Simon “Chopper” Chimbetu and Leonard Dembo.
With it’s constant bass drum beat, chattering hi-hats and snazzy rolls, and rapid fire guitars; the music is characterized by a 4-5 minute introduction where the lyrics are introduced with the riff going along; thereafter there is a further 6-10 minutes of guitar/bass/drum lead section - during which time the dancing happens.
The groups normally comprise 2 or 3 lead/rhythm guitars, bass guitar, drums, lead singer, 2 backing singers and perhaps 3 dancers who have there own particular style of dress and hairstyle (sometimes bleached and with ‘nicks’ in their eyebrows). They lead the audience with the dance routines. The most popular dances are the “Borrowdale” (named after the local horse racing track where they imitate a horse running) and an offshoot “Razor” dance (something to do with barbed wire) - both of these have been made popular by Alick Macheso and both involve some natty footwork and body movement.
So to the new album… when Alick releases it is expected to sell hundreds of thousands of units - with a large portion of sales being made up of cassettes -still popular in households throughout the country. Every member of a family would want to own an Alick album so all ears are tuned to the new release which, for the first time , he has had recorded in South Africa and will be accompanied by a DVD. This guy appeals to a legion of fans and his shows are a real blast. There are 2 launch gigs set for the coming 2 weekends - I will let you know how they go.
That’s the word from the Zimbabwe music scene - until next time gotta go I feel another “nought’ coming
Sparx
Labels: Alick Macheso, world music, Zimbabwe
Monday, June 04, 2007
Zimbabwe: if in doubt add a nought
Steve Sparx here continuing the dialogue on “surviving an economic meltdown” - it’s been 3 weeks the only thing that changed was the extra zero on the cost of everything.The phenomenon known as hyperinflation has led to the introduction of the “simply add a nought” school of economics with the main rule being… “if in doubt add a nought“.
Predictions are that inflation will rise even more and pretty soon we gonna run out of “noughts” on the computer again… suppose we will have to start again from “nought”.
I said it before but the hour before dawn is the darkest and it is at these times that we closest approximate the truth - as the veils fall away the truth is revealed. Expression prevails and creativity emanates. The survival instinct is paramount in us all.
So despite the challenges of everyday survival it is our duty to look to the outcome we desire the most - recognition, success and bringing joy through entertainment.
I have been in England now for a couple of weeks, further promoting our musical cause - sending out promotional literature, talking to promoters and getting our music out to all the contacts made over the past years.
Hopefully this will translate to a tour here later in the year and we are hoping to make it something of a special one too. One of the strengths we developed in Zimbabwe was in utilizing our artists more practically so that by small changes in the backline we could showcase individual artists at the same show without having to move around with complete bands for each showcase act. A good example of this has been that Busi Ncube effectively uses the same backing band as Willom Tight and Dino Mudondo, whilst the same backing group (with a couple of extras) forms the backline for The Collaboration (left). We have made shows where we have showcased 5 different acts each with 5-8 artists using only around 20 performers.Our plan then is to put together a tour of Scandinavia for Busi and Band Rain in Oct/November and then to come to UK for a series of shows, at which time we will fly in Willom and Dino and then do “double headers” with a focus on the Zimbabweans living in the so-called ‘diaspora’ who would really enjoy that combination. Whilst for those ‘non-Zimbabweans’ in the house they get the chance to enjoy a wider spectrum of Zimbabwean music styles as portrayed by each act.
There are an estimated million Zimbabweans living in UK believe it or not, and they have been sustained on a diet on Oliver Mtukudzi (right) and Alick Macheso - the 2 existing “superstars” of the Zim music scene - they travel here 2 or 3 times each a year. There is definitely a demand for something fresh and that’s the gap we want to fill. But that's not to say we only want Zimbabweans - we hope our music will hold some wider appeal too.So that’s where we are up to so far - I return to Zimbabwe next week - expecting to be shocked by the changes - a month in one’s life here can truly be defining. Until next time
Sparx
Labels: Busi Ncube, The Collaboration, world music, Zimbabwe
Monday, May 21, 2007
Louis Mhlanga to the USA
One of South Africa’s favorite musicians, Zimbabwean born Louis Mhlanga, has announced dates for his North American tour:July 5&6: London Fest, Ontario
July 7: Montreal Jazz Festival, QC
July 13-15: Halifax Jazz East, NS
July 19: Santa Monica Pier, CA
July 20: The Mint, CA
July 21: Hothouse, IL
July 22: Evanston, IL
Louis' music has been described as breezy, but in the heat of Africa, its meaning is closer to the sensation of cool relief, and happiness that you feel, than just a waft of air that invades your space. Louis is a master! And the better his company, the more masterful he becomes!
Some of the names he has worked with include Orchestra Baobab, Oliver Mtukudzi, Hugh Masekela, King Sunny Ade, Busi Mhlongo, Stef Bos, Thandi Klaasen and Andy Narell - which is quite a variety of musical styles too. But that's because he doesn't like to fit into just one little musical box. He loves fusion - which is why we love him!
Here is the track Mari Hakuna off the album World Traveller.
Labels: fusion, Louis Mhlanga, USA tour, Zimbabwe
Monday, May 07, 2007
The Collaboration's Urombo - Zimbabwe
It is my pleasure to be able to provide another installment from Stevie Sparx, our Zimbabwean music man, regarding a group that I touched briefly on before, The Collaboration. But I will let Steve explain more:
It was nearly 3 years ago that, with a rapidly deteriorating economy in Zimbabwe, and the flight of performing artists out of the country, we decided to bring together what might be called “the best of the rest” and look for new ways to enhance the music biz in Zim and find ways to promote our music to as close to an international level as possible.
Our first year was spent preparing material for a project under the banner “The Collaboration” - each member of the group is basically aligned to their own band and we encouraged the artists to pursue their own career as well as to participate in the project - what we ended up with was the album “Hupenyu Kumusha/Life at Home/Impilo eKhaya” which is an amalgamation of ideas from the contributors and features a variety of styles and grooves from Afropop to Zimjazz.
The album was launched in 2006 and a string of live performances followed, culminating in an appearance on the main stage during the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA - 2007 has just finished!).
The track Urombo - a traditional song (done earlier by Thomas Mapfumo) that we have revamped was released in Nov 06 on the Revolution album 4 U - done by the Mothiba twins, the album was nominated for a SAMA. The track talks of the poverty of life alone and the need to continue to strive and to work together.
Rather poignantly, track 2 on the album “Illusions” was inspired by the governments slum clean up operation in 2005 - 2 of our artists were personally affected - the bass player had his bedroom removed from the house as an “illegal extension” while the mbira player’s house was surrounded by rubble from structures torn down all around his home and he lost the income from a few “lodgers” too.
We continue to promote the grouping and our most recent performances have been at Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar and at Chimanimani Festival here in Zim.
The spin off of this album has been the recording and promotion of other groups of whom members of The Collaboration are party to.
Our latest release “Malaisha” from Busi Ncube and band Rain is starting to gain interest - I was in Norway recently to promote a tour for the group later in the year - this follows their appearance at Mela Festival in Oslo in 2006.
Busi is a founder member of legendary Zim band Ilanga - featuring Andy Brown, the late Don Gumbo, Busi and Keith Farquharson the group were leaders in the Afro fusion genre and produced a string of local hits.
Busi sings in 6 languages and her distinctive style has made her a firm favourite in Zimbabwe - she also plays mbira and percussion. We have also recorded material for Zimjazz trio Too Open, and have a couple of other projects at various stages of recording.
Stevie Sparx
Harare Zimbabwe
So here is a video of the track Urombo, from the album Hupenyu Kumusha/Life at Home/Impilo eKhaya - neighbour, I hear you in Zimbabwe!
It was nearly 3 years ago that, with a rapidly deteriorating economy in Zimbabwe, and the flight of performing artists out of the country, we decided to bring together what might be called “the best of the rest” and look for new ways to enhance the music biz in Zim and find ways to promote our music to as close to an international level as possible.Our first year was spent preparing material for a project under the banner “The Collaboration” - each member of the group is basically aligned to their own band and we encouraged the artists to pursue their own career as well as to participate in the project - what we ended up with was the album “Hupenyu Kumusha/Life at Home/Impilo eKhaya” which is an amalgamation of ideas from the contributors and features a variety of styles and grooves from Afropop to Zimjazz.
The album was launched in 2006 and a string of live performances followed, culminating in an appearance on the main stage during the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA - 2007 has just finished!).The track Urombo - a traditional song (done earlier by Thomas Mapfumo) that we have revamped was released in Nov 06 on the Revolution album 4 U - done by the Mothiba twins, the album was nominated for a SAMA. The track talks of the poverty of life alone and the need to continue to strive and to work together.
Rather poignantly, track 2 on the album “Illusions” was inspired by the governments slum clean up operation in 2005 - 2 of our artists were personally affected - the bass player had his bedroom removed from the house as an “illegal extension” while the mbira player’s house was surrounded by rubble from structures torn down all around his home and he lost the income from a few “lodgers” too.
We continue to promote the grouping and our most recent performances have been at Sauti za Busara in Zanzibar and at Chimanimani Festival here in Zim.
The spin off of this album has been the recording and promotion of other groups of whom members of The Collaboration are party to.
Our latest release “Malaisha” from Busi Ncube and band Rain is starting to gain interest - I was in Norway recently to promote a tour for the group later in the year - this follows their appearance at Mela Festival in Oslo in 2006.Busi is a founder member of legendary Zim band Ilanga - featuring Andy Brown, the late Don Gumbo, Busi and Keith Farquharson the group were leaders in the Afro fusion genre and produced a string of local hits.
Busi sings in 6 languages and her distinctive style has made her a firm favourite in Zimbabwe - she also plays mbira and percussion. We have also recorded material for Zimjazz trio Too Open, and have a couple of other projects at various stages of recording.
Stevie Sparx
Harare Zimbabwe
So here is a video of the track Urombo, from the album Hupenyu Kumusha/Life at Home/Impilo eKhaya - neighbour, I hear you in Zimbabwe!
Labels: Busi Ncube, The Collaboration, world music, Zimbabwe
Monday, April 30, 2007
Neighbour, I see you in Zimbabwe
I am proudly South African. I tell people this freely and easily, and pretty much with chest-beating pride! But here I sit, way down at the bottom of Africa, not really knowing if I am proudly African.How can I be trying to make my own country a better place; spread a level of understanding about our different cultures, and encourage a spirit of ubuntu, when right next door in Zimbabwe, the people are suffering. Almost everyone is suffering. But can you imagine trying to be a musician? (right - old history, Zim ruins by Garth Meyer)
I am no great fundi on music from Zimbabwe, and am pleased to learn more, apart from the hot names that have made an international impact, like Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi & PaxAfro…. Ok – they were abit like the Pop Idols of Zim, being a creation of Professor Jonathan Moyo – then Propaganda Minister of Zim – so they’re more infamous!
I was introduced to a group of musicians last year, through an amazing project under the banner The Collaboration featuring Chiwoniso Maraire & Busi Ncube (left). They have taken artists, who all have their own bands, to participate in this project, and ended up with the album Hupenyu Kumusha/Life at Home/Impilo eKhaya. It’s an amalgamation of ideas from the contributors and features a variety of styles and grooves from Afropop to Zimjazz.I am first keen to introduce you to a future contributor to Peak People, Steve Sparx from Thulani Promotions from Zimbabwe, who will be giving us more details about the situation there. I asked him to start with a brief summary of a musician’s life in Zimbabwe in these times
So how does a musician survive an economic meltdown?
The artists in Zimbabwe have effectively been marginalized in most cases - it is almost impossible to fix performance fees and to budget for expenses related to either live shows or recording - everything from CD repro, to printing cost, to fuel, to food changes on an almost daily basis. What appears enough today is insufficient tomorrow.
We as Thulani Promotions have subsidized where we can but the emphasis must be on self sufficiency; we take our catalogue with us wherever we perform so we have more than one CD to offer, we try and US Dollarize our prices when offering performances and we look for new channels to promote our music wherever possible. I have attended Womex and visited Scandinavia to promote tours; we send the album to World Music review sites, promote to festival organizers and make contacts with similar minded people whom we might collaborate with.
The artists are patient and behind it, they all have a share in Thulani and believe we have a formula to pull through and to expand our horizons - I believe that “the darkest moment begets the brightest creativity” and we continue to spread our vibe wherever, and whenever we get the chance.
Just this past weekend we provided 5 bands, and a clown, to the Chimanimani Festival - here in Zimbabwe. This is a rural festival aimed at agro-industry workers, their families and other people in the area. It was last held in 2003, when it was real popular with tourists (yes we remember them too) and Harare folk, but it came unstuck through the prevailing situation - we helped to revive it with a memorable show and expect that it will now be back on the Zimbabwean festival circuit (OK so now there are 2) on an annual basis PLUS the festival trust will be reviving their rural artist development outreach program once they reestablish ties with interested donors. So there is light and we will continue to be drawn to it, and yes, the darkest time is just before the dawn.
Would be great to get more regional shows and also to increase our productivity to bring in some new talents from this part of the world into the fold, we also want to get some more collaborative work that brings together different parts of Africa and explore our brand of fusion to see how far it goes. Of course the new technologies for distribution (downloads/ringtones/etc) have not had much impact on the Zimbabwean music scene yet but we want to be part of it when it happens and for this to benefit the artists too.
We wanna tour the world and bring our groove with us - so that’s how you survive a meltdown - Optimism and Intention.
Watch this space
Stevie Sparx
Its difficult to keep quiet – I am passionate – and I see cultures dying because the battle to survive, to put food on the table, must prevent elders the freedom to sit and teach the youth the sounds of old. Young adults must be starving for musical education, and positive influence. And established musicians – well – I am sure they just leave.
Here is a podcast by Pambazuka News Featuring the music of Busi Ncube (Ilanga & Blue Rain) who I will be posting about later this week – it’s a little old (last month), but it gives you the message, with Busi's music!
I am not a politician. I am not a freedom fighter, and my voice is soft in a world of screams, but I believe in ubuntu; as a philosophy and a way of life; as a solution. Africa’s own solution.I want to be a proud African; I want my neighbours to be safe, and secure, prospering in this wonderful age; for then I will sleep better at night.
What are you going to do for your neighbour this week?
Labels: music, struggle, Ubuntu, Zimbabwe
