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Arts Reporter 

Remember the Zealots during the Biblical times of Jesus? This was a group which earned its name from the overzealous nature with which it approached issues.

They were zealous about Jewish independence from the Romans, and wanted to push Jesus to lead a war against the empire.

The Zealots took no prisoners when it came to pushing their agenda, and nothing could detract them from their aims and actions.

Well, the sungura music genre has just got its own zealots in Orchestra Zealous band, a youthful outfit led by 24-year-old Roy Roy from Chinhoyi.

The sungura group name is unique — taken from the aggressiveness nature exhibited by the biblical Zealots.

“Orchestra Zealous is a group made up of guys who have zeal in doing music, especially sungura music. The group is made up of youthful people who have never played in any band before,” explained Roy Roy. 

“I taught them how to play the instruments and was impressed by their zeal to take forward sungura music, and this is where the name Orchestra Zealous came from. Being zealous has helped us in setting high standards, which we hope we can easily achieve because we have the zeal to push ourselves despite that we are new in music.”

Roy Roy was born in Chinhoyi in 1994, and formed Orchestra Zealous in 2014 in Ilanda, Bulawayo.

He then recorded his first single “Shantie”. 

Roy’s group is made up of himself on bass and lead vocals, Conductor on lead, Samaz on rhythm, Cephas on drums, with Eddie, DK and Conductor providing the backing vocals.

Sweeden, Peter, Jimmy, Godfrey and Ruster are the dancers. 

“I selected these guys because I noticed they had zeal for music, and this motivated me to teach them. I actually took some time teaching them,” said Roy Roy.

“I chose sungura music because that is where my talent is, though I compose gospel music, dancehall, rhumba and many other genres, but sungura is my best.”

So far, Orchestra Zealous has two albums and three singles.

The group’s popular songs include “Mababie”, “Leah” and “Kugona Kwese”.

For those who often listen to radio, they could have come across some of the group’s songs that frequently receive airplay like “Shantie”, “Baba Varipi, “Ida Vabereki”, “Rudo rwaMwari”, “Ruva Rangu” and “Mababie”. 

The band released its latest album at the end of 2019 titled “Mashoko Echenjedzo” and has six songs.

On the album, the song “Baba Varipi” is about the plight of children who grow up without being told about the whereabouts of their fathers and are troubled, trying to find out. The child will be pestering the mother about the issue.

“Mirira Nguva” is an advice for people to wait for their time to prosper and stop thinking there are some people pulling them back through issues like witchcraft.

On “Rudo rwaMwari”, Roy Roy is urging compassion for orphans, while on “Ida Vabereki” he urges children to love their parents and always remember them even if they relocate to the diaspora.

“Mukadzi Wemumhu” is a warning against adultery and “Ruva Rangu” is a tribute to a loved one.

“My wish is to get known and popular for the advice that I give to people through my music.

“I also ask sponsors and promoters to try us and they will not be disappointed. This will help our music to spread.”

Roy Roy said they were greatly affected by Covid-19 as they failed to record last year because of the lockdown.

The banning of shows has also affected Orchestra Zealous financially.

“We look forward to producing videos this year, and we ask sponsors to come on board because we want to produce high quality videos, what has never been witnessed in sungura music,” said Roy Roy.