{"id":2608,"date":"2023-04-24T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=2608"},"modified":"2026-10-17T23:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T23:37:10","slug":"the-njerama-files-interview-with-paradzai-mesi-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=2608","title":{"rendered":"The Njerama Files \u2013 Interview with Paradzai Mesi (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Paradzai Mesi\u2019s band, Njerama Boys, went from playing tin guitars in Muzarabani schools to writing unforgettable harmonies for the great Zimbabwean songbook. But his songs never came from a place of harmony, at war with industry saboteurs (\u201cUpenyu Madzoro\u201d, \u201cZvipo NdezvaMwari\u201d, \u201cShaisano\u201d), at war with brother bandmates (\u201cNdourawa neHama\u201d, \u201cRave Botso\u201d, \u201cWamhanya Makarimwa\u201d) and finally at war with himself (\u201cWasara Musoro\u201d, \u201cSwerakuenda\u201d).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Performing from village bases throughout his heyday, Mesi was terribly underpromoted and a beast of burnout where commercial commitments were concerned. Swerakuenda is, after all, the moral equivalent of the Shona bohemian figure, swerengoma. Swerengoma lives by the primal rhythm of night and day, rain and shine, griot beer and community ridicule, a forest spirit in touch with the elements.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mesi\u2019s songs are dark and intense. Their narcissistic pleasure accumulate from picking his wounds. Too much of a dark thing perhaps, the sungura Bartleby\u2019s songs become a self-fulfilling prophecy about a life and career whose blessings have yet to arrive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Njerama Boys recorded 11 albums between 2000 and 2019. Their legacy rests on a prolific peak decade, boasting no less than five pure classics between 2002 and 2008. Onai Mushava (OM) recently rang the king of bohemians, Paradzai Mesi (PM) for his side of one of the truly complex stories of second-generation sungura.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/thelargepaper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/IMG_20230213_0004-1024x1018.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Njerama Boys second album, <em>Zviri Pachena<\/em> (2002), featuring breakthrough hits, \u201cMharadzi\u201d, \u201cEmelia\u201d and \u201cUpenyu Madzoro.\u201d Top row, left to right: Norman Makina (rhythm), Paradzai Mesi (lead guitar and lead vocals), Elliwance Makina (bass). Second row: Richard Zandiya (backing vocals) and Silas Ngirazi (backing vocals).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Eh, Mukanya! I want us to talk about your music from the first album in 2000 to the most recent one in 2019.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: I may not analyse these things in full over the phone. Can you come to Glendale instead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: I am in Bulawayo at the moment. I will let you know when I can come to Glendale. For now, let\u2019s work with what you can share over the phone.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: Go ahead! But you are sticking to music, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Just music.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: Because people say they want to interview me but they are just dying to ask me, \u201cWe heard you beat your mother? We heard you had five wives?\u201d Those stories have no part in music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: I hear you well. I guess that\u2019s what you tell people on your song, \u201cTambai Ngoma\u201d: \u201cDance to the music; don\u2019t look for misfortunes.\u201d<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: \u201cTambai Ngoma\u201d, yes. The album was <em>Chitaurirwa<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Actually, it\u2019s on your 2014 album, <em>Harisi Dambe<\/em>.<br>PM: Yes, the one that came after Chitaurir<em>wa<\/em>. So which song do you want me to analyse for you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: I want to follow your progress through the years. I heard you connected paths in Muzarabani forests during cyclone to meet Gramma Records producer Bothwell Nyamhondera and audition for your first album in 2000?<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: First, you have to know that my bandmates did not believe we could end up on radio or become something. I was looking for money myself but it was not enough for us to take a bus to Harare and see what options were available for us to recording. So I had to send an application letter to Bothwell Nyamhondera. Mdara Bothy (Elder Bothwell) said, \u201cOn 2 June 2000, I will travel to your area. Let me find you prepared.\u2019 I walked about 70 km (Nyamhondera says 35 km) to Muzarabani Growth Point with my bandmates to meet him. We were carrying our homemade guitars. Mdara Bothy brought Wallace Mparutsa with him to audition us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: You composed your first songs, recorded your demo tape and auditioned on these homemade guitars?<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: Yes; I didn\u2019t have money for electric guitars at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Bothwell told me he could not travel to the school you had agreed to meet with him. He said it was during the time of Cyclone Eline and people at Muzarabani Centre warned him that if he risked the journey he would not make it back. People were being rescued by helicopters and buses had not come back. Was this a challenge during your journey to meet him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>PM<\/strong>: Was it Cyclone Eline or Japhet? I don\u2019t remember. But I do remember having to write a letter to Gramma. Back then you would take your demo tape to the studios in Harare and be charged say for one hour but I didn\u2019t have that kind of money. We had managed to record with a Walkman. I had taken that demo to Gramma (in Harare) in person earlier and received a response after two weeks with a \u201cPoor Sound\u201d sticker. When Mdara Bothy came to meet us in Muzarabani, I had now written Gramma a letter asking them to consider our music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Where were you coming from when you met Bothwell at Muzarabani Centre.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: From Hoya, my home area. The whole band was from the same village. We had to meet Mdara Bothy in Muzarabani because that\u2019s where the highway was. My home area would have been harder to navigate as it\u2019s dust road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>:So you then auditioned under the baobab tree\u2026<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: Exactly. With those homemade guitars. I was told to play one song. Soon after intro, I was told to switch to the next. Mdara Bothy similarly interrupted me for the next three songs. The big man is experienced enough to immediately pick it up when you are good. We nailed the audition and I had to follow the guys to town where they highlighted a date on the calendar for us to come back and record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: I want to say the leap in quality from your first album to your second album is hard to believe.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: On my first album, I was heavily influenced by Khiama Boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: You bring your individual stamp to the second album.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: Yes. But I am still singing back to my early influences. You will hear John Chibadura\u2019s influence on \u201cHapana Chisingaperi\u201d, for example, which is on my third album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: I would even say there is a touch of System Tazvida on the the rough and raw vocals of the sixth album, <em>Zvave Muropa<\/em>, and, of course, you have been compared to Alick Macheso a lot.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: We grew up listening to many people. You have to understand that no one originated music out of nothing. You become yourself as you go because we don\u2019t think alike. If you listen to Tongai Moyo\u2019s \u201cZakeyo\u201d, the rhumba switch there was taken from my song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Yes, your song, \u201cNjerama\u201d, came out 2002 and Dhewa\u2019s \u201cZakeyo\u201d came out later in 2004. The lattermost verses on your 2008 song, \u201cMarwadzo\u201d are at least vaguely similar to Mark Ngwazi\u2019s \u201cMudzimu Wabudira paMbeveve\u201d in 2019.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: When you are an underdog people view these things in one direction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Who were your original band members on the 2000 album, <em>Zaru<\/em>?<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: My bassist was Elliwance Makina, he is late now. The rhythm guitarist, trained by Elliwance and myself, was Norman Makina. The drummer was Akim Makina; he failed when he were going into our recording session at Gramma Records. I played lead and sang, while Richard Zandiya gave me backing vocals. Mdara Bothy then provided us with a session drummer, Clemence Chigarira, who has since passed away.<em>Zaru<\/em> (2000, translated \u201cbreakthrough\u201d) is Njerama Boys\u2019 first album. It sailed beneath the radar so that notable cuts, \u201cTanga Waronga\u201d and \u201cZaruka Pfungwa\u201d were carries over as bonus tracks on the real breakthrough CD, <em>Zviri Pachena<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Before all of this, how did you first make a connection with the musician inside you.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: I didn\u2019t come up through other bands as some people like to say. I just loved music, growing up. So there was this namesake of mine called Paradzai Kajecha; he also passed away. He had his banjo. So as we were herding cattle in Madziwa, he would lend me his guitar. One day he said, if you want to learn, make your own guitar so that you imitate what I would be doing in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Paradzai is the one who initiated me into music but I was already a great admirer of artists like James Chimombe, John Chibadura, Khiama Boys. At that time, Macheso had not formed his band, Orchestra Mberikwazvo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Which year are we talking about?<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: I was born in 1972.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: When did you learn the guitar.<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: Around 14 years. I had shown a strength for music remember that we would play on Parents\u2019 Day \u2013 I think that\u2019s what they called it \u2013 in primary school. I was around nine years-old then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: Oh really?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: So you were learning your first lines to cassettes?<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: There were turntables then. On holidays, people working in Harare came back to the village. They would buy batteries, PM10s, PM9s and so on. So they would bring their record players and we knew that we would be passing time at their homes during holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>OM<\/strong>: You took your home-made guitar on those visits?<br><strong>PM<\/strong>: I wasn\u2019t even playing yet on the early visits but those tunes stayed with me till I could play the guitar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Stand by for Part 2<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Njerama Boys Discography<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Zaru<\/em> (2000)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Zviri Pachena<\/em> (2002)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Pane Chariuraya<\/em> (2003)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Goneso<\/em> (2004)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Masimba Towedzera<\/em> (2005)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Zvave Muropa<\/em> (2006)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Kambairai<\/em> (2007)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Nguva<\/em> (2008)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Chitaurirwa<\/em> (2010)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Harisi Dambe<\/em> (2014)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Chenjera Kukangira Pakatsvira Dzimwe<\/em> (2019)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>First published by <\/em>This Is Africa<em>. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Paradzai Mesi holds his floor among the great Zimbabwean artists. Perennial underdog in a 2000s sungura school headlined by Alick Macheso and Tongai Moyo, his unique and individual songwriting has been clouded by unfavorable comparisons and bohemian controversies that follow his name to this day. Published 3 years ago on April 24, 2023 By Onai Stanely Mushava<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Njerama Files \u2013 Interview with Paradzai Mesi (Part 1) | Blockspace<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=2608\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Njerama Files \u2013 Interview with Paradzai Mesi (Part 1) | Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Paradzai Mesi holds his floor among the great Zimbabwean artists. Perennial underdog in a 2000s sungura school headlined by Alick Macheso and Tongai Moyo, his unique and individual songwriting has been clouded by unfavorable comparisons and bohemian controversies that follow his name to this day. 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