When Zimbabwe’s popular culture historians sit down one day to determine the biggest influences on the Zimdancehall reggae subgenre, it will be difficult to discount the contribution of three figures: reggae legend Bob Marley, chimurenga maestro Thomas Mapfumo and Dennis Wilson, the Black British telecommunications engineer-turned-radio deejay who died in Harare on 6 January at the age of 66.
The story of how Marley, the key figure in that triumvirate, ended up in Zimbabwe is well documented. But a few rudimentary facts about his journey to Zimbabwe need repeating, if only because they illuminate much about the contributions of Wilson and Mapfumo.