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Tino

Fred Zindi Music

The Umoja camp which began in Johannesburg, South Africa on September 3 and ended on the 15th showcased a lot of talent from its participants who hailed from Norway, Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe. The 45 participants who participated in the camp, had gone through a rigorous talent-search process which selected them from among over 800 participants who auditioned for Umoja in their various countries.

There was however one outstanding and exceptionally talented participant among the 45. Her name is Tinotenda Amanda Manyowa, a little known Zimbabwean rising star who undoubtedly will soon become a force to reckon with in the near future if she keeps up her present singing momentum.

Tino is the girl who came second in the last episode of Starbrite competition. She auditioned for Barney Mpariwa’s Starbrite at Glamis Stadium, Harare in 2010 and came through to the finals held at the Zimbabwe College of Music where she came second after Brian Kadengu who took the first prize. She is still yet to receive some of the prizes she was promised.

These include an I-pad, Android phone, a residential stand, a trip to South Africa where she will receive mentorship from Judith Sephuma, a recording contract with Oliver Mtukudzi, a trip for two at Victoria Falls Hotel and $750 spending money. That sounds very attractive for a young up-coming artiste.

Tino started her schooling at Regina Coeli in Nyanga where she came out with six O’level passes in subjects that included English and Science. She started singing at school at the age of nine and professionally after leaving school at the age of 15. She got a lot of encouragement and inspiration from her father, Cleo Manyowa, a musician in his own right and a music teacher at Music Crossroads Academy. Her first adventure with music was at The Book Cafe’s open mike sessions where she felt that she could sing. From there she auditioned for “Daughters of Africa” where she was considered too young to be part of the team.

However, she was not discouraged. She started her own band ‘Afro Spirit’ which did several gigs at the Book Cafe. She also did backing vocals for Tina Watyoka and Dino Mudondo.
She has already done a lot in the music industry as she was also involved in this year’s Hifa opening show.

At the Umoja camp in South Africa, Tino mesmerised the audience at Moses Molelekwa Arts Centre in Thembisa, Johannesburg, when she reincarnated the late Chiwoniso Maraire through a beautifully sequenced medley of Maraire’s tunes, ‘Wandirasa’, ‘Mai’ and ‘Look to the Spirit’. With her powerhouse vocals, she went on to do an exquisitely arranged snapshot of the moment, Mabel Madondo’s ‘Ndafunga Iwe’ and ‘Jesa’, a masterpiece by Trinity.

I asked Tino if she did not have her own songs and she said she had written 10 songs which include “Arikupiko”, “Chimbofara’, “Inyasha” “Zvawakuenda” “Music of Africa”, “Musavashungurudze”, “Rudo Rwako”, “Zuva Remoyo”. These will feature in her forthcoming album which she hopes the Starbrite organisers will make arrangements to have them recorded since she has already won that prize. I had the opportunity to listen to some of these songs and I can tell you beforehand that they are not the ordinary undeserved plinky-plonky stuff from some of Zimbabwe’s urban groovers that sometimes proliferate our radio stations.

However, the audience at Moses Molelekwa Arts Centre were touched by her spirited performance and soulful voice which often rises to a delicate falsetto that blurs gender lines.

Jerry Molelekwa, who is the father to Moses, to whom the centre was named after, was obviously impressed by Tino’s vocals. He said to me, “I really like that girl’s singing. She sounds like Asa. I am going to find a way of luring that young girl to come to South Africa and teach at the Centre. The Centre needs young talented people like her”.

The story behind the Moses Molelekwa Arts Centre is a sad one. Moses Molelekwa, at the age of 29 had already made millions of rands as a musician in South Africa and he decided to pour most of his money into his community in Thembisa.

Within a short space of time, he had built a cultural centre with all the modern gadgets required in a state–of-the-art arts centre. However, his marriage began to take a tumble when he found his wife in bed with another man. Moses agonised over this and decided to kill himself. His father, Jerry, who is still clearly in pain over this matter has taken over the running of the Centre.

However, that is a digression. I introduced Tino to Jerry Molelekwa and they exchanged contact details. He said he will soon work out a package before approaching Tino. If that happens, Zimbabwe would have lost a real star in the making.

Tino repeated the same performance at the Central Johannesburg College in Alexandra and the audience there who were mainly students could not believe their eyes when she exuded so much confidence in her performance.

The Umoja camp ended at Pakare Paye Arts Centre built by Oliver Mtukudzi in Norton, Zimbabwe on Sunday. Wearing 15th century cream-laced costume and showing off her long false eyelashes which seemed to be permanently glued onto her eyes, Tino also received a warm welcome from the audience of mainly school children who attended the performance .

As expected, she also gave a dazzling performance here and when she sang the Chiwoniso medley, which was accompanied by Florence Muteta and Raymond Mupfumira on Nyunga Nyunga (mbira) as well as the horn section from Osborne Matenganzara and Ronald Chiyepa plus the thundering drum-beat from Mutsawashe Gudhlanga which made a seductive entrance, everybody was up on their feet. The intoxicating sound was there to showcase the arrival of Tino into the world of music.

One lady in the audience screamed, “Iiii, Mwana uyo anogona kuimba!” (That child can sing!). This lady was not alone. Tino’s performance elicited cheers from the full crowd which by mid-set had spilled into the outskirts of Pakare Paye.

In short, Tino is impressive in both song and dance and she is the future of Zimbabwe’s music.

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