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A sleeve of Four Brothers album

Godwin Muzari : Memory Lane

Marshal Munhumumwe is in a bracket of late musicians that do not have any of their children pursuing their art. While the likes of James Chimombe, Leonard Dembo, Tongai Moyo, John Chibadura, Simon Chimbetu, Naison Chimbetu and Daiton Somanje have blood heirs to their careers, Munhumumwe’s children are not keen to inherit their father’s drum and microphone.Although his eldest son, Marshal (Junior), has been involved with Four Brothers as manager, limiting himself to administration meant surrendering the baton to strangers.

Even living musicians like Oliver Mtukudzi, Lovemore Majaivana, Zexie Manatsa, Bob Nyabinde, Willom Tight and Mechanic Manyeruke have given their children blessings to pursue music and shown them guidelines on how to tread the meandering music path.

But the indomitable legacy that Munhumumwe left has, over the years, been marred with power struggles as founding band members, new comers and management contested to bask in the glory that the late talented drummer, lead vocalist and wordsmith left.

All the original members of Four Brothers have died and James Nyamandi, who joined the group in the late 90s when Munhumumwe fell ill, has been in and out of the outfit due to leadership squabbles.

Currently Nyamandi is on the helm of the group, which is now a largely youthful outfit, and he is recording a new album titled “Bhora Mutambo” that is expected on the market this week. Marshal (Junior) is still overseeing operations of the group.

Despite Nyamandi’s capacity to coin music that replicates Munhumumwe’s style and son Marshal’s consistent interest in the band, nothing concrete has been done to excite Four Brothers fans.

It is now 15 years since Munhumumwe’s departure and the name of his band lives on with nothing exciting to show.

Munhumumwe’s music was interred with his bones and Four Brothers has been nothing short of a group of session musicians specialising on copyrights.

Nyamandi is hopeful that his upcoming album will bring back the old Four Brothers days, but Marshal (Junior) has seen that dream being shattered by successive leaders of the group with Nyamandi being the main culprit since he has led the group for a long time.

The group has gone through different hands and it is now plain that Munhumumwe’s touch keeps slipping through their fingers.

First to take over lead vocals at the group after Munhumumwe fell ill was Albert Ruwizhi who was the drummer.

The group recorded its first album without their leader titled “Maminimini”, which had some songs written by Munhumumwe.

Ruwizhi and Four Brothers continued to stage shows and had a tour of UK but the gap that Munhumumwe left was strongly felt. Ruwizhi succumbed to cancer barely a year after assuming the lead vocalist role.

The group’s procuder Tymon Mabaleka recommended that the remaining members get the services of Nyamandi whose music with Makombe Brothers was closer to Munhumumwe’s beat.

With Nyamandi on lead vocals, Four Brothers recorded “Zvehama (Friends and Relatives)” and the new member was rated as the best man to do vocals that replaced Munhumumwe’s voice, but the bar set by the latter still proved too high.

The group continued with its shows with fans hoping that Munhumumwe would miraculously recover.

Munhumumwe died in 2001 while Nyamandi was at the helm of the group but his reign did not last long as power struggles emerged.

As the fight for leadership got worse, Nyamandi left the group to return to his Makombe Brothers band.

Antonio Makhosa took over and the group recorded the third album without Munhumumwe, but it did not make impact. It was gradually becoming clear that going back to Munhumumwe days would be a tough task for Four Brothers.

Death continued to stalk the group and Makhosa also passed away before he could bring back glory to the group.

As the group struggled to find the next solution to their woes, other band members Alex Chipaika, Never Mutare and Robium Chauraya passed away within a few years.

Marshal (junior) realised that misfortune was ravaging the group and he decided to take a break in 2003. Frank Sibanda was the only surviving original member then. He did not resuscitate the band.

On the other hand, Nyamandi began performing under the banner Four Brothers and did Munhumumwe’s songs at shows and recorded an album with the group’s name without Marshal’s consent.

Marshal took legal action against Nyamandi and the latter was told to stop using the group’s name although he was allowed to perform Four Brothers songs as copyrights at his shows.

However, the dust gradually settled and the two decided to revive the group in 2013. Sibanda had also died by that time and Four Brothers under Nyamandi no longer had original members.

Marshal (Junior) said they have been working well with Nyamandi since 2013 and he hopes the current group will do its best to keep Four Brothers music playing.

“All is well and differences have been settled. We want to keep the legacy alive and our shows always remind people of the days when my father was alive. It is not easy to get to his standard but I just want to make sure that people keep hearing his songs at live shows,” he said.

Nyamandi says he has a passion to revive Four Brothers legacy because many of the group’s fans encourage him to keep searching for a formula that can quench their thirst.

“I could have continued with the name Makombe Brothers but Four Brothers is a bigger name and fans encourage me to keep trying hard in the studio. I have put more effort on this new album and I hope it will make it,” said Nyamandi.

“The journey has been tough, but I have hope. I went to pluck the current band members from a farm in my quest to keep the legacy alive.

‘‘We are also doing something to honour Mukoma Marshal and we will notify his relatives about our intentions soon.

“He had a legion of fans and they cannot have enough of his songs. We were supposed to have played our part in keeping the music on top of the ladder but I believe energy was wasted on wrong things. The squabbles that rocked the group were counter-productive.

“Everything has now been resolved and I am happy Marshal (Junior) continues to see a good cause in Four Brothers. We hope Mukoma Marshal will smile one day wherever he is when the current team finds a winning formula.”

Indeed Munhumumwe should be turning in his grave as the group he co-founded fails maintain the level he set.

The late great singer is known for hits like “Mbereko Yakaramba”, “Adiwa Usamuzonde”, “Vimbai” and “Rudo Imoto”.