Month: April 2024
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Bishop of Bohemia – Onai Mushava on Living the Poet’s Life
Click or not: Bishop of Bohemia – Onai Mushava on Living the Poet’s LifeI have dedicated the afternoon to picking the brain of award-winning author and journalist, Stanely Mushava. A new first name, Onai, has just replaced his given name, on his new 2019 book, Rhyme and Resistance. He is finishing his stint as tutorial assistant in the NUST Journalism and Media Studies. Somewhat leaner than his 28… …
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Is Tocky Vibes the Next Tuku?
Click or not: Is Tocky Vibes the Next Tuku?As if it is not mathemagical enough working out how Tuku did 66 albums in 42 years – a yearly album for each of his 66 years on earth – Tocky casually dropped four projects in 2019 alone. At a conservative rate of three albums per year, Mr Vibes will have recorded 100 albums by… …
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Hokoyo Is a Great Zimbabwean Album
Click or not: Hokoyo Is a Great Zimbabwean AlbumHokoyo Is a Great Zimbabwean Album I have previously written some of the harshest criticism of Jah Prayzah, unimpressed by his easing into an undemanding, bubblegum template. The songs worked for his high-octane, fast-paced performances but were socially distant “music about music.” As Jah Prayzah got more polished, he gave up his original vulnerability and… …
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The Solo Years of Biggie Tembo
Click or not: The Solo Years of Biggie TemboThe Solo Years of Biggie Tembo Out of Africa is the more solid artwork, spawning memorable hits like the poetically cryptic “Punza” and the politically assertive “Mozampique.”Baba of Jit is, on the other hand, filled with themes of loss, subdued, resigned, sorrowfully see-through, nostalgic for career highlights without quite recapturing them, content with literalist songwriting and reflective… …
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10 Zimbabwean Breakup Classics
Click or not: 10 Zimbabwean Breakup Classics10 time-tested jams, featured in no particular order, to help you enjoy your heartbreak. Sizeably genre-defining and record breaking, they prove that no songbird sings more movingly than the one with broken wings. …
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Charles Mungoshi, through the Eyes of His Peers
Click or not: Charles Mungoshi, through the Eyes of His PeersTo hear fellow writers tell it, Mungoshi’s first language was laughter; and his physical address, the habit-forming bottle. He stars in memories of young love, and artist encounters in Zengeza and Kambuzuma shebeens as a man of disarming charm and a writerly ego only outsized by his wit and grit. …
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How Mono Mukundu Got His Groove
Click or not: How Mono Mukundu Got His GrooveNot yet 50, Mono has played more than 1000 albums, sungura, chimurenga, reggae, rhumba, even holding his own as the go-to guitarist for the Pentecostal community. …
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Bill Saidi Was a Renaissance Man
Click or not: Bill Saidi Was a Renaissance ManBesides, the president was already unimpressed with Saidi’s failure to write about humanism (the philosophy Kaunda wears on a t-shirt and preaches from a bicycle in history books). One lucky pardon from the president, after Saidi had managed to get himself fired from an important editorship, was punctuated with the singular instruction: “Write about humanism!” …