At home with the Charambas

CHARAMBAS2Tawanda Marwizi Arts Correspondent
Gunhill is one of the leafy suburbs in the country and most people would love to stay in the plush habitat. In this neighbourhood, just after Churchhill Road along Domboshava Road, one comes across a house with a white precast wall and a green gate.
Outside the house, green and well-manicured lawn spreads to make an attractive turf that inevitably catches the attention of passers-by.

This is the house that harbours the country’s great musical talent. This is where musicians Pastor Charles and wife Olivia stay. They call them gospel music’s first family.

As we visit them on a sunny afternoon, the green gate automatically slides to let us in just after we announce our arrival.

We follow a brown-brick driveway leading to the house, passing by a swimming pool and a big gazebo to our left.

We park outside a garage sheltering a cream Toyota Estima and white Nissan Tiena. There is also a tractor outside the garage.

Inside the living room a number of portraits of the musician and his family as well as enlarged sleeves of their albums hang on the walls.

The sleeves tell a story of a great musical journey the gospel music couple has travelled. This is their story:

“I stayed in Chitungwiza in Unit M, Zengeza 4, St Mary’s and Zengeza 5. I got married in 1996 while I was staying in St Mary’s. My heart belongs to Chitungwiza although God has taken us here,” said Pastor Charamba.

Interestingly, the musician could not stress any point without referring to his wife who was sitting next to him.

“God has blessed us in a great way and we thank Him for taking us this far.

“Music is a talent from God and we thank our fans for accepting our music. We have also been blessed with a good family.”

The two have five children Shalom, Eternity, Tagamuchira, Timukudze and Avenemi.

“In our song ‘Komborerai Vana’ we were praying for our children and we are happy that they abide by what we teach them.”

His two children Shalom and Eternity showed us some notes on music they got from their parents.

“After they finish their homework we just give them these notes to learn in their part time,” he explained.

He took us to the Fishers Of Men Studios in the house where they work on their songs.

The studio is furnished with all the necessary requirements.

The “Nyika Zimbabwe” singer also sampled some of his new songs but emphasised they have no specific time of release.

“We have a lot of recorded songs but we have no specific time for release but what we can assure our fans is that the songs will be on the market one day.”

The studio has video filming equipment meant for hire.

“We have an instruments and video filming equipment for hire and they are under the Fishers of Men label.”

So their life is all about music?

“We have a farm in Goromonzi. We usually go to the farm and work there on our spare time and that tractor you saw at the garage outside has come here for service,” he said.

And talking about the garage, one would expect such a successful family to have top-of-the-range vehicles that are even driven by musicians far below the Charambas’ level but the musician thinks otherwise.

“We did not invest much in cars and we just want to keep it that way and to us these two cars are enough for the family.”

Having done much of the talking during the interview, Pastor Charamba lets his wife give a parting shot.

“We pray that God continues to bless us. We love our fans and we are prepared to continue serving them.

We are preparing good music for them. Just be patient, albums are coming. We will always do our best for you.”

 

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