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Tafadzwa Zimoyo

Senior Arts Reporter 

United States-based Zimbabwean gospel artiste Reverend Togarepi Chivaviro is overwhelmed with responses from fans and other musicians over his new song “Kana Wakayambuka”, which has gone viral with a song challenge.

The song, which is part of his six-track album with the same title name “Kana Wakayambuka”, was released late last year as a Christmas gift to his fans, with a video launched early this month featuring celebrities and fans dubbed “Lockdown version”.

Some of the songs on the album include, “Anopindura Minamato”, “Itai Zviya Zviya Jesu”, “Panobudika” featuring his son Tinashe, “The Altar that Alters” and the hymnial song “Jerusalem” featuring Vabati VaJehovha.

“Kana Wakayambuka” features Allan Chimbetu, Blessing Shumba, Mai Chivaviro, Mai Patai and Dorcas Moyo. 

In an interview, Rev Chivaviro said he was shocked by how people were taking the song and it was about to reach the “Ebenezer” level.

“For us it’s a sign of reception for the track. I am not sure how far it will go, but I believe God has a purpose for ‘Kana Wakayambuka.’

“The challenge has caught us a bit by surprise and when we saw it gaining momentumon television, we decided to go with the flow and used our social media platforms to hype it up.

“I later decided that I should then compile the videos of the celebrities and musicians including fans who have done the challenge and the craze has reached another level. From Baba Harare to the Warriors soccer team doing their skit challenge with the song, it is uplifting and I am actually proud that I am impacting a lot of people despite gender, race, colour or even other artistes of secular music,” he said.

The music is now available on Spotify, Amazon, iTunes and YouTube.

Rev Chivaviro said they were in talks with some potential partners who want to give prizes to the lucky fans who have done the challenge.

“Although it is difficult to pick who did the best, we decided if we can reward them for their time and talent, yet alone for appreciating my song. We are currently negotiating with some sponsors for prizes to keep the challenge exciting. It is always humbling to see the young and the old responding to a song this way, especially the whole album.” 

The song was about how one had overcome the burdens of this world.

“The song ‘Kana Wakayambuka’, talks of how you have overcome a situation and I released it end of December as a celebration of the coming year,” he said. 

“One can interpret it differently depending on how he or she is a victor in their situation.” 

Rev Chivaviro, who broke his two-year-sabbatical, said he was back in music business full time as in the past year he was focusing on settling, education and business.

“Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic, has affected us, but we managed to cope up with the situation. For the past two years I was busy with studies. I was working on a doctorate in gospel ministry because we intend to open a ministry institute soon. 

“I am happy my son Tinashe also started recording and releasing songs which helped keep our music family covered. Traditionaly, I release my albums on January 22 on my birthday, but due to Covid-19, we could not get it completed as most of the people we needed in studios could not travel. 

“The album was recorded in Zimbabwe, the US and South Africa, so it was really a frustrating process. We couldn’t even do our usual live launches or live concerts to support the new work. 

‘‘However we thank God, ‘Kana Takayambuka’ and the album was finally released.”