Page 18 - Thomas Mapfumo News Today

is a Zimbabwean-American singer/songwriter based in Los Angeles. Her journey through the American pop music industry has been both an education and a challenge. As she learned to comply with the limitations and rules of the songwriting profession, she also bristled at them. In June 2021, Shungudzo will debut an album that she feels finally pulls together the strands of her unique life in her own way, including an embrace of social and political engagement. The album is called I’m Not A Mothe...

writes musician Matt Sage Despite learning the recorder at school – like every other wretched child of the 1970s (torture for all concerned) – it wasn’t until the age of 11 that I got my first real initiation into music. One evening, at my grandma’s house, I chanced upon an original copy of the Beatles’ White Album that had previously belonged to my Dad. I took it home, wired together an old record player that was gathering dust in a cupboard, plugged in some headphones and that w...

“Notes from Africa: A Musical Journey with Youssou N’Dour” By Jenny Cathcart Books on a golden age of Afropop stars—Youssou N’Dour, Baaba Maal, Angelique Kidjo, Salif Keita, Thomas Mapfumo, Cesaria Évora and many others—come along only once in a while. The latest is Notes from Africa: A Musical Journey with Youssou N’Dour by Jenny Cathcart. Whether you’re a newcomer to the scene or a veteran Afropop fan well versed with all these artists, this is a great read, a rich tapestry ...

By Robert Tapfumaneyi CELEBRATED United States- based Zimbabwean Chimurenga musician and human rights activist, Thomas Mapfumo, has appealed to the international community to immediately intervene and stop what he calls an “ever-rising crisis” in Zimbabwe. In a long emotional letter, Mapfumo, a fierce critic of President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s regime, said citizens were “sold a dummy” in November 2017 when the poured out into the streets calling for the removal of the then despotic Pres...

Dreaming of Zimbabwe: Stories from the diaspora Lance Guma left Zimbabwe in 2003 after being attacked while working as a TV correspondent for foreign media [Photo courtesy of Lance Guma] From fleeing for political reasons to looking for an adventure, Zimbabweans share why they left their home country. Nearly 24 years ago, Lance Guma came face to face with a gun. A man had followed him out of the main post office in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, before attempting to provoke him into an argumen...

#DemLoot was made for talking: The Zimbabwe struggle song of a new generation © Copyright (c) Daily Maverick , All Rights Reserved What likely started off as social media banter by Zimbabwean journalist Hopewell Chin’ono after his release on bail from Chikurubi maximum security prison towards the end of January 2021, has struck a reactive chord in Zimbabwe and abroad.  “Find me a good music producer, we must sing AGAINST LOOTERS and them out of town!”, Chin’ono tweeted with teary lau...

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 documente...

The Zimbabwe Independent June 12, 2020 Gora Zowa Machoronga, born Tafadzwa Gora, is an upcoming Afrocoustic musician working on his first offering – a 15-track album set for release within a month. So promising is his work that promoters in Europe and the United States are already calling to book him for shows even before his first work is out. Journalist Gabriel Manyati (GM) sat down with Gora (TG, pictured) this week to get an insight into what music fans can expect from th...

RatieD. Courtesy Photo. When she was a girl living in Zimbabwe, Eugene musician Claire Ratidzo Dangarembwa, who performs as RatieD, would sing out loud in front of an arts theater near her high school. “I generally would sing out loud, all the time, everywhere,” RatieD tells me over the phone, on the occasion of her debut EP, Ink & Melodies, out now on music streaming services.  No one from the arts theater heard RatieD, but she kept singing, inspired at the time by pop musicians like Avr...

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