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Vongai Mbara Arts Correspondent
Talented singer Zivai Guveya, aka “Zee”, has collaborated with dendera musician Sulumani Chimbetu on a love song titled “Murudo”.

The two artistes met in London, UK last week when they both performed at Zimfest, a festival organised by Zimbabweans for Zimbabweans.

Captain Sulu, as Chimbetu is popularly known by is legion of fans, and Zee came up with the idea and it merely took them a day to produce the song.

Sulu described the song as a masterpiece and said he had enjoyed working with Zee.

“He is a professional musician and I can say we combined well in the studio. Doing a collaboration within a day is not an easy achievement. It is a sign that we collaborated well. People should look forward to a gem,” said Sulu.

Zee said he felt privileged to work with Sulu. “It was good to work with Sulu. The work in studio went on well and we are convinced that people will love the song. We enjoyed working together and we hope to have more projects in future,” said Zee.

Another Zimbabwean artiste based in the UK, Percy Musa, who witnessed the recording of the collaboration said it promises to be a hit.

“I was amazed by these guys’ work. They did not take long to come up with a good song. It promises to be a hit,” said Musa.

Zee has worked with a number of Zimbabwean musicians on stage. He became popular as a member of Thomas Mapfumo’s Blacks Unlimited.

His journey started with humble beginnings. He was inspired by his uncles who were musicians to try his hand in the art.

However, Zee’s parents did not allow him to pursue music. He had to learn how to play the guitar in their absence.

In 1993 Zee became a session musician for a group from Highfield, Lusaka titled “Pamuzinda”. Nicholas Mazenda, Pamuzinda group leader was impressed with Zee’s performances and he arranged for him to be part of the popular Olivine advertisement which featured Oliver Mtukudzi and Ammara Brown.

In 1995 he teamed up with a group — Zimbaremabwe Mbira Group who played both marimba and mbira. He played soprano marimba. In 1997 formed his own group — Dzinderemusha Youth Edition.

Dzinderemusha had to relocate to Bulawayo after securing a contract with Music Time Promotions owned by John Nguruve. MTP would have Dzinderemusha curtain raise for big musicians like Mapfumo, Andy Brown and Simon Chimbetu.

Mapfumo was impressed by Zee’s talent and he asked him to join Blacks Unlimited as keyboardist.

He worked with Mapfumo as a multi-skilled musician playing the guitar, marimba mbira, and kongas. He recorded five albums with Mapfumo and toured Europe and North America with the Blacks Unlimited before relocating to the UK to pursue his career as leader of Heritage Survival Band.

The band has done numerous shows in UK and graced prestigious festival. Their performance at Zimfest impressed Sulu and he did not hesitate to have the collaboration.