Mukwamba yearns for yesteryear glory Patrick Mukwamba
Patrick Mukwamba

Patrick Mukwamba

Ruth Butaumocho recently in Rusape
The track “Jonasi (Wapenga nayo Bonus)” is a song that evokes many memories. If it does not serve as a reminder that the 13th cheque is due, it probably takes a lot of people down memory lane to the day they spent all the money carousing, leaving them with nothing to show for their toil.

Released in 1984, “Jonasi” still is a popular song that gets generous airplay during the month of November, when most companies are expected to pay the 13th cheque to their toiling workers.

However, the same cannot be said for the man behind the hit tune. Patrick Mukwamba is now a pale shadow of his former self. For a man who released a song that has remained a hit 33 years after hitting the airwaves, his current status does not match the popularity of his discography.

Dressed in a floral red shirt, grey trousers and black canvas shoes, it was difficult to draw parallels between the music legend famed for a string of hit songs in the 80s, and the rugged man, hunched in a corner at Daru Bar in Vengere humming along to Andy Muridzo’s “Dherira”, when the Herald crew met him. “Murikutsvaga Mukwamba? Mamuwana,” he said.

Now employed as a general hand at a civil engineering company in Rusape, Mukwamba is still to reclaim his yesteryear glory after hanging up his guitar in a huff more than 20 years ago. What he has not lost is his persona that made him a yesteryear hero. Many people easily recognise him in Rusape, where he has been domiciled for the past 26 years.

Sadly, his popularity does not match his pocket, or his lifestyle. Holed in a one-roomed rented accommodation in Vengere, he walks to work, a distance of about 8km, which he claims is a stone’s throw away from his crib. With no wife to cook or wash for him, he does his laundry and takes his meals at his workplace, which has become his second home, thanks to the camaraderie displayed by his workmates.

Although he claims to be happy and content, Mukwamba yearns for yesteryear life. He yearns for the glitz and glamour that characterised his life at the zenith of his career, when he would straddle the length and breadth of the country, waltzing in the rich trappings of his fame then. “I am planning to make a comeback in music.”

“I have been rehearsing for a long time, but right now I cannot afford to record,” he melancholy revealed during an interview in Rusape last week. “I never lost my magic on stage.” “I am still the same old Mukwamba, though in different circumstances,” he defended his waning legacy, explaining that relocating to Rusape threw him out of the public limelight.

His initial attempt to return to showbiz in 2014 after hibernating for more than two decades hit a snag, when his album “Call Me Back” received a lukewarm response. “It is a good album, which never received good marketing. I even sold 400 copies, which is a clear indication that it was a good album. “Had Gramma done a good job, I would have been somewhere by now,” he bitterly revealed.

The eight-track album could be gathering dust somewhere because it has not been receiving airplay from local radio stations lately. However, lack of airplay has not deterred Mukwamba from forging ahead with his plans to reclaim his yesteryear glory through music. “I have since teamed up with some guys in Harare to form a group called Silver Sinde. We hold regular rehearsals in Highfield’s New Canaan.

Patrick Mukwamba at work

Patrick Mukwamba at work

“Most of the guys are fairly new in music, but we are doing well. However, our biggest problem is money. We are unable to go into the studio and record, because we do not have money to pay studio fees and cater for other expenses,” he said.

He would need $2 000 to release an album and videos for most of his hit songs, he said. Mukwamba regrets leaving stardom and the comfort of being a musician of repute. But he still harbours hopes of hitting the big time again. “I was in Harare in February for a jam session at the City Sports Bar, and people loved my music.

“The moment I got on stage with one of my hit songs ‘Vakakunda Zviedzo (Ramba Murume Tinwe Hwahwa)’, fans went crazy and got on the dance floor in an amazing way. “I just told myself that I am still good and I can even do better than what I did in the 80s.

While acknowledging that the music terrain might have changed from the time he was in the industry, Mukwamba remains optimistic that his music will be embraced by the mature and discerning music lovers. “Nothing beats a good message, well packaged with good, well coordinated instrumentation. “I just need an opportunity to reawaken the magic. A live performance or releasing an album will definitely propel me to stardom,” he said.

Mukwamba gained popularity during his short stint with the Four Brothers between 1983 and 1984 when he released the classical hit, “Jonasi (Wapenga nayo Bonus).

This song was and has remained a Christmas hit. It talks about how Jonasi foolishly spent his 13the cheque. “I wrote the song after one of my friends, James, spent all his money in one night of booze in Chitungwiza. It was really sad, when the wife, with a policeman in tow, walked into the pub, looking for him,” he reminisced.

A wordsmith of repute, one of his compositions, “Tonosangana Ikoko” put the Four Brothers on an international pedestal with the group even touring Canada, playing several of Mukwamba’s hit songs.

Starting from the late ’60s with the Carnations Band, Mukwamba has been a nomadic artiste, linking up with several groups over the years. He moved from the Pop Settlers band based in Mutare in the late 1960s to Tanganda Tycoons, then Rollicking Band based in Victoria Falls before leaving for Mhangura Mine to replace Thomas Mapfumo as the lead vocalist for Hallelujah Chicken Run Band.

He later joined the Seasons Band before leaving his Chitungwiza house to settle in Rusape. However, it was during his stint with the Four Brothers that Mukwamba made his biggest impact. He rose to instant stardom with a litany of hit songs that included, “Vakakunda Zviedzo”, “Zvinonaka Zvinodhura”, “Vambozha Vauya”, Dai Ndiri Shiri” and “Tenga Gumbeze”.

He even received quite a substantial amount of money, as royalties from the track “Jonasi” enabling him to buy a house in Chitungwiza, becoming neighbours with the Four Brothers frontman Marshall Munhu- mumwe.

Having tried his hand on a number of projects, including sculpting and his current job, Mukwamba is convinced that music will rejuvenate his waning fortunes. For someone who has been living alone since his wife’s death in 2014, he says he will also use some of the money generated from album sales to remarry. “Life is indeed lonely, I really need to remarry,” he said

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