What a virtually unknown girl from Chitungwiza has done with the famous 1990s song by the now disbanded Assegai Crew’s Kanyama Karipi is quite amazing.
By Staff REPORTER
Calling herself Iron Lady, Rumbidzai Mashayamombe (18) — a dancehall artist — decided that perhaps the best way to go forward with her music career was to look back a little.
So, of the 26 tracks she has recorded so far in many studios since 2013, Kanyama Karipi stands out. Iron Lady confirmed that the song was popular with fans wherever she performs.
The rendition comes on a faster tempo, with a stronger bassline, and without the famous musical keyboard sounds as on the Assegai Crew one, but Iron Lady sings in nearly the same tune as in the original song, although there are generally overtones of voice-auto tune.
The rendition is not comparable to the well-mastered Assegai Crew track, and the production studios could have done better during the mastering — a challenge that Zimdancehall has faced as many producers lack the requisite equipment and expertise to produce high-quality productions.
That, however, does not take away the talent that Iron Lady exhibited in Kanyama Karipi and the other songs that she did without a manager.
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Away from production technicalities, the idea of renditioning this famous song rings into the debate in Zimbabwe regarding the music industry’s rigidity when it comes to opening up songs for renditions.
Unlike in some countries, where popular songs are often made into different versions by various musicians, upcoming and established, Zimbabwe’s popular songs have not been renditioned as much.
This could be attributed to the stringent contractual provisions yesteryear musicians entered with recording companies, which gave the sole rights of the song to the recording company, instead of the musician.
With improved contractual agreements, musicians could easily share music with their colleagues from other genres for remixing.
Then, rising and talented musicians who seemingly have a bright future ahead of them, like Iron Lady, could ride on the fame of older music and also bring it in different tastes, which will only work well for the Zimbabwean music industry as there will be variety.
