Mitchell Jambo gave Zimbabwe the only song that can be played from Chitungwiza (Chikwanha Township) to Harare CBD (at least Seke Road fly-over) even on sluggish morning for traffic.
In “Ndini Uyo,” the Marunga Brothers frontman threads together covers of Zimbabwe’s music greats, John Chibadura, Simon Chimbetu, Lovemore Majaivana, Oliver Mtukudzi, Paul Matavire, Leonard Dembo, System Tazvida and Thomas Mapfumo, inbetween a humorously unconvincing cock-and-bull love story and his own relatively uninspired lyrics.
Credulously imitating the legends’ vocals and guitar riffs, Jambo plays an ESAP-hit man (not too foreign a theme in 2016) ditched by his woman after retrenchment.
The spirited but ultimately doomed poetic feat to win back crushworthy Rudo is not only a warm, endearing homage to the music greats but also a memorable artistic response to an unprecedented economic downturn.
At more than 25 minutes, “Ndini Uyo” is the longest spool in the archive, yards ahead of notoriously long-form guitarists Leonard Dembo and Alick Macheso.
It is half a movie.
“Genius! The whole affair lasts 25:30 minutes; putting all other – ehm – ‘long plays’ in the shade,” music connoisseur Ranga Mberi comments on his Kings of Sungura blog.
“Dembo’s ‘Zvaunoda Handizvigoni,’ which clocks in at 15:53 minutes, comes in a rather distant second. ‘Mutadzi Ngaaregererwe’ (Tinokumbira kurarama) is 15:33. ‘Chitekete,’ thought by many to be Dembo’s longest, is actually a ‘mere’ 14:10 even on the remastered pressing,” writes Mberi.
Jambo seemed to be obsessed with ESAP. His unforgettable duet with Prince Tendai Mpararutsa, “Kumusha,” is about a down-and-out comrade heading to his rural home for what remains of last harvest after a rough brush with Dr Bernard Chidzero’s austerity measures.
Anyway, in love with his own tears, sabotaged by former paymasters, our poor, lovelorn mutual friend in “Ndini Uyo” puts a disappointingly lily-livered finish to a spirited effort: “kapackage kangu kakanonoka kusvika/ Rudo akabva angondiramba (my retrenchment package arrived late/ And Rudo rejected me).
Even interventions by the shrewd, infamously jelly-kneed “Dr Love” Mataire and his nemesis “Wezhira” Tazvida cannot save the day for Jambo. His love conquest goes up in smoke.
There are just few other dubious moments in the songs. Jambo gives each of his go-betweens, the music greats, a generous fee for their lyrical interventions except for Bulawayo legend Lovemore Majaivana whom he is not happy with for dissing instead of helping him after a communication breakdown. Talk of political incorrectness.
And Tuku’s intervention, “Sugar Pie,” doesn’t sound like a responsible metaphor given that the superstar is diabetic. Lastly, the omission of potent wordsmith Leonard Zhakata as a go-between explains Jambo’s failure to win back his woman. Something in the part-love-part-protest order of “Tsime Rapwa” or “Kingdom Yevaviri” might have swept Rudo off her feet, ESAP or no ESAP.
Jambo is no longer active in the sungura circuit having relocated south of the border to pursue other commitments. But his contribution to the genre is timeless thanks to hits like “Vimbiso” and “Ndini Uyo.”
The former doorman took up music at 24 under Sungura Boys. “I started working as a door man but due to the talent in me, I was promoted to a backing vocalist. I worked with this group for a year. We were 10 members, including Ephraim Joe, Bata Sintrao, Never Moyo, Rooney Gatakata, Moses Marasha, Mike Gunde, Simon and Naison Chimbetu (subsequently) of the Marxist Brothers,” Jambo recounts his unlikely rise to shortlived stardom on his blog.
“I left the group in 1985 when I went to the newly formed band Shika Shika brothers which secured a contract with Saratoga Club in Highfield Harare. The contract was terminated and I packed my bags and joined the Zimbabwe Cha Cha Cha Kings led by the late David Dick Ziome in February 1985.
“We recorded our first album in June 1985 and album received three gold cups. This group operated until the year 2001. I then formed my own group Marunga bothers which I named after my own totem,” recounts Jambo.
In light of his colourful record, Jambo’s early retirement is a regrettable waste of talent. Hopefully, he has not turned his back on sungura, a genre desperately in need of voices, forever.
