In the groove with Fred Zindi
Is there something mysterious about the 23rd day of each month? Last year Hugh Masekela died on January 23. This year, Oliver Mtukudzi also died on January 23. Dorothy Masuka died on February 23 and Gogo Mungoshi, Charles Mungoshi’s mother, also died on February 23.
Last week’s death of Masuka inspired the writing of this article. In 1990, Jethro Shasha, Louis Mhlanga and Jimmy Indi, who called themselves Music Ye Africa, had gone to Pastor Eddie’s Baptist Mission recording studios in Waterfalls, Harare, to record Alouis na Jenny when Auntie Dot (Masuka) stormed into the studio with The Job’s Combination band to record two songs Nhingirikiri and Gona Ramachingura. I was in the studio as Music Ye Africa’s advisor on the musical arrangement. Masuka asked us if she could record first as she was catching a plane to South Africa later that day. We agreed.
It was during this recording session that she poured her heart out about her musical journey. She said that if she had listened to her parents or her late husband who did not want her to be a musician, her musical career would have not happened, but she decided to defy their orders and then chose to have no partner interfering with her musical activities. She had spent over 30 years in Zambia doing music and had travelled all over the world during that time. “No man would have allowed that”, she said. “ I want to be with someone who will be proud of my growth in my career, but lack of support should not spell the end of one’s ambitions”, she added.
I have in the past written about the need for female musicians to get support from their partners. If the female musician is to get support from her male partner, she is likely to make a successful career in that business.
In 1992, the late Jeffery John Chavunduka of JJ Promotions brought Yvonne Chaka Chaka from South Africa to stage some shows in Harare and Bulawayo. I was at the time managing a band called the Frontline Kids. We were the supporting act for the Chaka Chaka shows. After our performance in Bulawayo, it was Chaka Chaka’s turn to perform. I sat backstage with Yvonne’s husband, (Tiny) Leonard Mandlalele Mhinga, a general practitioner in South Africa. After I had introduced myself to him, we got chatting during Chaka Chaka’s performance. There were loud cheers from the crowd in the packed Barbourfields Stadium. Suddenly, Mhinga stopped talking to me and looked at the stage for a while. Chaka Chaka was performing the song Umqombothi. Then he exclaimed, “Fred, do you think that a married woman should be wiggling her bottom like that? In your opinion, do you think that is decent?”
He did not expect the kind of response I gave him. I said to him, “Chaka Chaka got her name through a good voice and wiggling her bottom was part of her stage act. I am sure this is the reason why you married her. Why then do you expect her to tone down because she is now your wife?”
His attitude towards me changed immediately and later when I went to their hotel room at the Bulawayo Holiday Inn to clarify matters, Mhinga refused to open the door. I never had a chance to discuss this further with Chaka Chaka or her husband although I casually mentioned it to Chaka Chaka much later at a gig we did with Masuka at the South African Embassy in London in 2010. I said, “So you are still performing despite your husband’s protests?’ She just laughed it off.
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I can’t help noticing that since then, Chaka Chaka has taken ambassadorial roles, teaching roles and administrative roles. She does the odd gig every now and again but has certainly scaled down on her singing role. Is it due to pressure from home, I wonder?
Couples in the music business need support from their partners if they are to survive. This is why the unmarried female musicians in the Zimbabwe music industry should stay single if they do not have their partners’ support. Unfortunately, our society is that way inclined. While women expect equal opportunities in their marriages, most men expect their careers to take precedence over those of their wives. That is a fact. So what happens if a female musician’s career is flourishing but she does not have the support of her husband? Could this be the reason why Plaxedes Wenyika and Tariro ne Gitare are divorced from their husbands? It is important that couples complement each other rather than competing with one another.
I asked a few female musicians about this phenomenon and here are some of the responses I got:
Mangwenya Diana Samkange: “My partner is my number one supporter and he brings growth in my career. It’s important to have that support from partners for a career to be solid, stable and consistent.”
Fungisai Zvakavapano-Mashavave: “I get massive support my dear. Everything I am is his handwriting. Financially, materially and emotionally, the dude is just cool. I wouldn’t be living my dream if it wasn’t him providing the comfort. He is a laid back, behind the scenes power house and he never gets in the way. Yeah the reality is if one doesn’t get support from the other half, they are most likely to quit especially because the music arena is not pro- women.”
Tererai Mugwadi: “I feel I am blessed in that my partner is a musician so he fully understands what it all entails.”
Others in this category whose partners are also artistes, include Selmor Mtukudzi, Edith We Utonga, Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana, Dudu Manhenga, Olivia Charamba and Shingisai Siluma. However, there are others who found the topic too sensitive and wish to remain anonymous. They told me that if they mentioned the negative vibes they get from their partners, that would certainly break their relationships.
In Zimbabwe, there has always been a very strong misconception about women in the music business. They are often perceived as either people who are lacking in moral values, loose women, promiscuous persons, sex objects or undisciplined people who have rebelled against society. There is this misperception that women in the music industry are narcissistic and competitive . That is not true.
Surely, if singing appears to be glamorous for a man, it must also appear the same for a woman. Yet the average African woman is inhibited by social pressures to expose herself in a job such as playing in a band. Attitudes from society for male musicians are usually very negative as very few people regard being employed as a musician as work. They are worse when the musician happens to be a woman. Singing in a band is regarded as a job for male vagrants and certainly not for decent women regardless of how talented they are in that area.
A lot of women in music are found in the gospel arena because it is a safe platform from which to land oneself onto the music scene. Because people fear God, it is difficult for male chauvinists to stop their daughters or wives from singing about God, just like they find it difficult to stop their wives from going to church.
Is it not ridiculous that even today some people still think music is a job for vagrants only?
Despite the male chauvinism of the patriarchal society in which they grew, I would still like to see less sexualisation of women in the music industry. It makes me sad when I see an artiste who has extreme influential power, like Beyonce for example, standing practically naked on stage while Jay Z, her husband, is dressed head to toe in a suit by her side. There is a huge inequality there, and a confusing message of power, and I just can’t see the reason why she needs to be dressed that way when she possesses such big talent. We feel that there is a lot of stigma attached as well, such as that women can’t make it as artists unless they sell their bodies or unless they are extremely talented and attractive. If this attitude continues, female musicians will always be sidelined and will find the music business socially and emotionally taxing.
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