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AMULI

Tawanda Marwizi Arts Correspondent
Hard times and waning fortunes in the music industry have forced sungura musician Gift Amuli to abandon his Zvishavane Sounds band for a job at a local mining company. Sources close to the musician said Amuli failed to pay his band members for their festive season shows leading to a wrangle within the band and the final collapse of the group.

Three of the band members identified as Murehwa, Courage and Tafara have reportedly joined Taruvinga Manjokota aka Sugar Sugar while others are still looking for jobs.

“He failed to pay them after they performed during Christmas holiday and things became tough for him.

“He relocated to Zvishavane where he is now a worker at a mining company,” said the source.

One of the former band members, Courage, said the musician paid them US$5 each per show for gigs held towards the end of last year.

“He promised to give us more money in January but we later heard he had gone to Zvishavane” he said.

Amuli yesterday could not be reached for a comment but a man who answered his mobile phone identifying himself as Nkululeko said the musician was not willing to talk to the media.

He confirmed that Amuli is now working at a mine but aggressively thwarted this paper’s bid to know the company.

“What do you want the company for? Just know he is now working at a mine and he does not want to talk to you,” said the man before hanging up.

The issue of payments has been thorny in Amuli’s band for a long time. Last year the musician almost fought with his band member, Fyton Dube, who plays rhythm guitar, after he demanded his payment at a show held in Shurugwi.

Relocating to Zvishavane means retracing steps for Amuli who worked for Shabanie Mine where the group Zvishavane Sounds was formed and became popular with the hit “Chitototo”.

Amuli is no stranger to abandoning his band when hard times bite. A few years ago, he left the band for South Africa in search of greener pastures when his music popularity fell. The musician has failed to keep the momentum set by his hit “Wamatuka” since follow-up attempts have not yielded expected results.

Amuli had relocated to Harare when his music career blossomed.