SUNGURA musician, Alick Macheso, is now a free man — at last. Following contractual squabbles with Eric Fish of South Africa’s Mobile Music Trust that saw the musician failing to release his new album for almost a year, the parties have reached an agreement.

Macheso can now release the album he has been holding on to and rekindle his popularity flame that was slowly dying due to lack of new material.

The musician signed a contract with MMT in 2007 when he recorded the album Ndezvashe-eh and two video albums.

Hope was that the sungura musician would keep recording his music down south but something went wrong along the way.

Macheso opted out of the deal but the contract was binding and Fish was waiting for another project from the musician — the contention erupted into a legal battle.

For more than a year, fans cried out for a new album and Macheso was caught between a rock and a hard surface.

He played most of the new songs at shows until people began to lose patience.

The world was crumbling on the ‘king of sungura’ who helplessly watched his throne tilting on his head.

But the musician stood his ground and vowed that he would fight until the end.

He sought the services of legal practitioners and won his case.

The musician could not hide his joy at his triumph.

“I am now a free man. It took a lot to win this case but God was on my side and I can now do my things without hindrance,” said Macheso.

“We have torn the contract and I can now release my album with a studio of my choice.

“Nothing can stop me now. I will also move the albums that I did with MMT to another stable.”

The musician said he was not happy with the SA deal because he did not get royalties from the company adding that his three albums with MMT were ‘done for charity.’

The album was a victim of piracy as fake copies leaked into the country even before the album was released.

By the time the album got here, Macheso had already lost a lot of revenue and the lack of trust between the musician and his stable exacerbated the problem.

Macheso’s fans will be hoping that he hurries and have the album on the shelves as soon as possible.

Those that attend the musician’s shows already know what to look forward to.

Songs like Chimoko Changu and Nguva Yekutenda are likely to be instant hits.

BY GODWIN MUZARI

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