Tag: Zimbabwe
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When Dambudzo Marechera Met Aaron Chiundura Moyo – A Brief History of Zimbabwe’s Language Wars
Click or not: When Dambudzo Marechera Met Aaron Chiundura Moyo – A Brief History of Zimbabwe’s Language WarsIn newly independent Zimbabwe, language wars erupted between homecoming writers who had made their names in the language of exile and writers who had worked with the state-run Literature Bureau to grow a Ndebele and Shona canon. Onai Mushava revisits the cold encounters of two of Zimbabwe’s best known writers, Dambudzo Marechera and Aaron Chiundura… …
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Alick Macheso is the Last of the Last – He Could Use More Ambition
Click or not: Alick Macheso is the Last of the Last – He Could Use More AmbitionLeader of the People’s Band, Alick Macheso, is the humble hero of the workingman and the Harare scene’s most obvious father figure after the death of Oliver Mtukudzi. With more aggression than retrospection, he can take Sungura to new frontiers. …
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INTERVIEW| Musaemura Zimunya and Marshall Munhumumwe – When Blood Is Thick as Ink
Click or not: INTERVIEW| Musaemura Zimunya and Marshall Munhumumwe – When Blood Is Thick as InkA year after Munhumumwe’s “Makorokoto” won him Radio 2’s first independence-era number one song, his cousin Zimunya published “And Now the Poets Speak”, co-edited with Mudereri Kadhani, and set the tone for new Zimbabwean poetry. Few years later, he had written well enough to be considered Zimbabwe’s foremost poet. What did it mean for Zimunya… …
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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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Tsitsi Dangarembga Opens up on Being Raped, Challenges “Callous” Mnangagwa
Click or not: Tsitsi Dangarembga Opens up on Being Raped, Challenges “Callous” MnangagwaZimbabwean soldiers allegedly raped 17 women and brutally assaulted many others on sensitive organs during the state crackdown on protests against a 150 % fuel price increase last month. Government has denied the claims of the women, who are currently in NGO safe houses, citing that only one of them has made a police report.… …
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What Does Onai Mushava Want? (Interview)
Click or not: What Does Onai Mushava Want? (Interview)What Does Onai Mushava Want? (Interview) “I start with a feeling. Let’s say love, sadness or settling scores with the system. Once I am aware of the feeling I want in ink, I become restless until it’s captured. I am picturing Genesis 1:2. All the elements are in place but out of alignment and the… …
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Thomas Mapfumo, Mbira Masters and Rhodesian Gatekeepers
Click or not: Thomas Mapfumo, Mbira Masters and Rhodesian GatekeepersThomas Mapfumo, Mbira Masters and Rhodesian Gatekeepers Mbira poetics in the moonshine, mid-century township culture, chimurenga renaissance, gospel, jit, sungura and dancehall are all genealogies of the Zimbabwean spirit. Today, the mbira may assure the country a proud category in world music but to get there, it had to survive repression by Rhodesian gatekeepers. Zimbabwe’s… …