Remembering Chris Matema Cris Matema’s fourth son Witness (above) is the only one following his father’s footsteps

Ronald Chiwanza Own Correspondent
The name Crispen Matema is synonymous with Zimbabwean music. A five-time winner of Jazz Drummer of the Year award, Matema was one man who tirelessly worked to create a distinct Zimbabwe rhythm which now has many genres like Zimjazz, Sungura and Chimurenga among others.

According to family sources, the late Matema aka “Mdara Dovi”, “Mazhambe” of the Soko Bvudzijena totem, started music seriously as far back as 1959 as a session drummer for various jazz bands then.

According to Matema’s best friend, Ambrose Mtungwazi, Chris is the one who influenced Tony Rivett, the owner of Teal Records Company, to agree to record Thomas Mapfumo’s first album “Hokoyo”. Matema was excellent as a drummer especially with jazz and traditional music.

The first band he played with was called Jazz Tones.
In that band Mtungwazi was on the vocals, Matema played drums, Danny B. Chiradza was on bass, Andrew Mchangani on lead and Mathew Phiri on congas. The band was based in Bulawayo.

At that time the Cool Four and the Golden Rhythm Crooners were some of the bands rocking the country.
Mtungwazi said, so far, the only drummer whom he would equate to Matema was the late great Jethro Shasha.
That is how good he was. Their band backed Abigail Khubeka and Dorothy Masuka whenever they visited the country.
Matema then joined Augustine Musarurwa’s band and played drums on the all-time classic “Skokiaan”.

When Louis Armstrong came to Zimbabwe in 1962 he did not bring a backing band and Augustine Musarurwa’s band backed him with Matema on drums.

Working as a producer with the then Teal Records in the early 70s Matema was in love with the ethnic sound and was involved in talent search being the brains behind the music contests that used to take place at Skyline Motel and Mutanga Nite Club (now Saratoga Nite Club at Machipisa), the first black-owned nightclub in Zimbabwe.

The idea was to scout for good bands around the country in order to record them and launch a branch that specialises in ethnic music.

Matema revolutionised the traditional rhythm by introducing brass section and mbira as a producer.
In one of the contests back in 1974 Matema invited the Hallelujah Chicken Runn Band from Mhangura Mine to the contest.
The band was formed by the late Lovemore Nyabeza as a social responsibility to the mine’s workers.

The band unanimously won the contest because they were the only band that played ethnic Zimbabwe music in the vernacular. The rest of the bands were doing international rock covers.

Matema took them to the studio and explained to them that he was going to record them and start a new record label specialising in Zimbabwe music called AFROSOUL.

Hallelujah Chicken Runn Band consisted of talented musicians like Daram Karanga, Robert Nekati, Thomas Mapfumo (who had worked with Daram at rock band Springfields) and Elisha Josamu.

Other greats associated with the band are Patrick Mkwamba, Patrick Kabanda (of the Devera Ngwena fame), David Ndoro, Wilson “Mdara Weedz” Jubane and Abdullah Musa.

In 1974 Matema produced their first album called “Take One” that has hits like “Murembo”, “Manheru Changamire”, “Mudzimu Ndiringe” and “Mukadzi Wangu Ndomuda” among others.

All the members of the Hallelujah Chicken Runn Band contributed to the songs. The album went on to become an instant hit and propelled the group to stardom which led to splits.

Thomas Mapfumo left to form Acid Band, Josamu left to form The New Tutenkhamen, Ndoro left to become a school teacher and Joshua Hlomayi left to join the Acid Band.

All these splinter groups continued recording with Matema, thus AFROSOUL records became the first label to succesfully record Zimbabwean artists in the pre-independence era.

Hallelujah Chicken Runn Band was the first band to be recorded by AFROSOUL to pave way for the rest of the numerous hits that came out of the stable.

In 1976 at the height of the liberation struggle Matema produced a highly charged revolutionary song “Ndiudze Kwakaenda Vamwe” by Mapfumo and the Acid Band, which won the record of the month for December 1977.

That same year he released Mapfumo’s first studio album Hokoyo and a string of hits that won him accolades.
“Pasi Pane Nhamo” that was released in 1978 with the help of The Pied Pipers, with Jane Chenjerai on lead vocals, won gold. So did “Tozvireva Kupiko”.

In 1977 the late Hilton Mambo joined Teal Records as sound engineer and started working with Matema on more Mapfumo projects like “Pfumvu Paruzevha” and “Vakarwara Neshanje”.

Matema left Teal Records soon after independence and started working with other musicians from different genres.
He worked with Amaveni Marimba Stars from Kwekwe as well as rock bands Wells Fargo, Gypsy Caravan and Four Aces among others.

He also produced music for Dorothy Masuka, Harare Mambos, Safirio Madzikatire, James Chimombe, Tineyi Chikupo, Elijah Madzikatire, Jane Chenjerai, The New Tutenkhamen and The Pied Pipers among many other great artists.
In a recent interview, Matema’s first son Mandi, who is now based in South Africa, recalled how his father was involved with many hitmakers.

“I started knowing about my dad’s music life when we were staying in Southerton in 1975. Musicians used to frequent our house and familiar names were Tineyi Chikupo, OK Success, Thomas Mapfumo, Paul Nyathi and Sebastian Mbata. They would sometimes sleep over at the house because my dad’s Datsun 1500 was used to carry their equipment,” said Mandi.

When asked about how his dad discovered Mapfumo, Mandi said they met when Mapfumo was playing for Hallelujah Chicken Runn Band in Mhangura. Matema also did his own excursions where he would travel to identify and record some mbira and marimba bands to try and promote original Zimbabwean music.

Even at home he made his relatives sing traditional music and record them. He was three-in-one, being the producer, promoter and manager of the bands.

He also used to present a sponsored radio show “The Top 20” on the then RBC (Rhodesia Broadcasting Corporation).
Matema’s fourth son Witness is a senior producer/presenter with ZBC Power FM and is the only child following in his father’s footsteps.

Witness opened a studio a few years ago and briefly worked with Nyasha Timbe and released an album.
Tracks like “Iwe Neni” and “Afro Soul” did well on the Power FM Top 20 charts.
Witness is yet to fully establish himself as a producer to fit the shoes of his late father.

Soon after independence Matema wrote, produced and recorded a song called “Jongwe Haritongwe Pamusha Waro” in 1980 which became an instant hit and received massive airplay both on radio and TV.

In 1982 he joined his friend the late Job Kadengu managing his night clubs like Playboy, Job’s Night Club, Skyline Motel and others. He stopped producing at that time. At the same time he opened record bars around Harare at places like Machipisa and the city centre.

In 1987 Matema was involved in a car accident and suffered multiple and internal injuries.
He never fully recovered from the injuries until he died on June 27, 1991.

A revolutionary in the Zimbabwean arts industry was promoted to eternity.
Matema was honoured posthumously with a TSAMA (Tinotenda Siyabonga Annual Music Awards) Award in 2001 which was received by his son Witness. The late great Matema had two daughters – Angelina Nyahunzvi and Dadirai – and five sons – Mandi, Tadzi, Witness, Sly and Selwyn. His other son Tanga passed on in February 2017.

His widow Lucy succumbed to cancer on October 17, 2017 and was buried beside her husband in Zvimba.
Matema’s legacy will live forever and he will always be remembered as the first black producer to produce an ethnic Zimbabwean sound.

Ronald “D-Train” Chiwanza is a freelance writer and radio personality

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