{"id":3390,"date":"2022-07-26T10:25:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T10:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3390"},"modified":"2026-10-26T10:35:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T10:35:38","slug":"mark-ngwazi-is-sunguras-cyber-orator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3390","title":{"rendered":"Mark Ngwazi Is Sungura’s Cyber Orator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Rukudzo Onai<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A security guard wanted to hang his helmet at Bhadella Wholesalers and chase his music dreams. A job in a known band would be a safer landing so \u201cOfficer\u201d Ngwazi passed his demo tape around, looking to be hired for his string swank. Nothing came of it. His aggressive run at Chibuku Road to Fame, rehearsed between night shifts at the downtown family of tuckshops, peaked at number one at the Harare provincials. But he still finished short of the national shortlist sponsored by the talent hunt. A Sungura master had faced this dilemma before Mark Ngwazi. Leonard Dembo\u2019s \u201cManager\u201d was a self-probing song that looked back to the time Musorowenyoka<\/em> burnt his fingers mixing work and music.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fired from a bottling company before his music career had quite taken off, Dembo sided with dirty bosses over conflicted bohemians, and emphasised the sacredness of the day job, in one of his best remembered early songs. Ngwazi would later revisit his days of menial necessity on the song, \u201cGudo Muriwo\u201d, his equivalent of Dembo\u2019s \u201cManager\u201d. \u201cKana zvinhu zvoremera kumusoro setsvimbo\/ usasarudze basa\/ wototamba iri kurira<\/em>\u201d (When things are heavier in the head like a knobkerry\/ don\u2019t be choosy with jobs\/ do what you have to do) he sang, nodding to vendors who play cat and mouse with council police just to eat for the day.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

In Harare, commuter omnibuses were ghetto radio. But they played nothing if not Zimdancehall<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOfficer\u201d Ngwazi followed his luck into the streets anyway. But any new musicians had business decisions to make in 2015. Around this time, gospel legends were denying that they had ever been gospel musicians, growing out their hair and learning the lingo just to claim their own piece of Zimdancehall money. Zimdancehall was killing off everything like that. Things were particularly bad for Sungura, up until then Zimbabwe\u2019s biggest music genre. The Harare scene had very few, perhaps only three, spots left for Sungura performers. Sungura guitarists, grand masters included, could barely squeeze into the many more<\/em> section of the poster at this point.\"\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Ngwazi during a live performance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They had to go out to the provinces and get their rent money from gold panners, the chaotic inheritors of a rundown mining sector that had sustained music groups and soccer teams from as far back as 1972. In Harare, commuter omnibuses were ghetto radio. But they played nothing if not Zimdancehall. You only caught sad glimpses of Sungura on the bus to the countryside. Sungura masters were past their best years. The new school was truthfully dismissed as Alick Macheso copycats. It was widely accepted that Sungura was dead. At 27, Ngwazi, the newly retired security guard, could have easily grown dreadlocks, coughed up some explicit rhymes in-between ganja spliffs, and jumped onto the Zimdancehall wave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dropping bars where angels fear to tread  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Ngwazi\u2019s idea was broadening Sungura so more people could see themselves in it. \u201cI don\u2019t want the listener to say I prefer this genre,\u201d Mark Ngwazi explains in an interview with This Is Africa<\/em>. \u201cI work with all genres, make them one thing and translate them to Sungura. So the one who loves gospel must find the things of God, biblical messages, there. That way, I am reaching out to gospel types with my Sungura. For Zimdancehall, I also do rhymes, and for traditional music, we capture some of that in the arrangement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 2010s, megachurches were the swing factor for Radio Zimbabwe and National FM<\/em> charts, Sungura\u2019s turf away from urban radio. More than half of the decade\u2019s songs of the year came from pastors and megachurch stars. To throw criticism without putting off a huge demographic, Ngwazi had to be playing with words from his very first album single, \u201cZvindigumbura\u201d in 2015. \u201cHameno vanoda kuendako tangai<\/em> magaya<\/em>\/ Mungazoguma makandiwa<\/em> musango\u201d \u2013 low-key shots fired at Harare\u2019s two popular pastors, Prophet Walter Magaya and Prophet Emmanuel Makandiwa. Other church namedrops were more benign, picking gospel artists, Blessing Shumba, Mathias Mhere, Charles Charamba, Rumbidzai Zvirikuzhe and Mercy Mutsvene, and secular brothers Kapfupi and Stunner: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unenge uchiti iblessing<\/em> apa iri Shumba;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mhai, ndapinda papfumvu<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kapfupi<\/em> kanguva kekufara ukastunner<\/em> naye<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mhere<\/em> unogara ka uchiridza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unototya kumutuma, uchiti zvimwe acharamba<\/em>;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndapinda papfumvu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumbidzai zvirikuzhe<\/em> asi chakafukidza dzimba matenga;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndapinda papfumvu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tipeiwo mercy<\/em>, Mutsvene<\/em> wedenga;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ndapinda papfumvu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With admirable arrogance, Ngwazi announced the arrival of his new band, Njanja Express, with the chant, \u201cNjanja ichurch yepanze haizari<\/em>\u201d (Njanja is an outdoor church which leaves no one out) in 2015. He had \u201cmessage\u201d; he could sing; and he had taught himself to play every guitar format as a kid, but Sungura now needed more than that to go forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sungura\u2019s Killmonger  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNicholas Zakaria, let\u2019s just say Khiama Boys. Then add Alick Macheso there. Charles Charamba as well, Paradzai Mesi, among those still living. But the person who inspired me the most is Paul Matavire. Marko Sibanda as well. I liked their compositions a lot,\u201d Mark Ngwazi said, sharing his foundational influences with This Is Africa. Sonically, the Macheso influence is more obvious. People like to talk of a golden age where each musician sounded like himself. Electric Macheso put a hex on this primitive innocence. \u201cThird-generation\u201d Sungura artists have worked under the great one\u2019s shadow, with some going so far as to imitate his chirimi (<\/em>lisp),<\/em> a speech impediment, as Mono Mukundu observes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Njanja Express is a dream team blending experience and youthful aggression<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Two of Ngwazi\u2019s pillars, Donald Gogo (lead guitar) and Obert Gomba (drums) are Orchestra Mberikwazvo alumni. Obert Mangani (lead), Wits Katogo (rhythm), Kelvin Chaitwa (bass) and Barnabas Mandipota (drums) complete Njanja Express. It\u2019s a dream team blending experience and youthful aggression. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alick Macheso is often called \u201cThe King of Sungura music. Photo credit: Alick Macheso via Facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Njanja players jam together at Ngwazi\u2019s house. \u201cWhen we are recording, each band member comes up with his own lines. We then bring everything together. That\u2019s when we have an opportunity to judge what everyone is playing, and pass ideas on what may needs to be switched up,\u201d Ngwazi told This Is Africa<\/em>. The 34-year old who taught himself every instrument by imitating classic lines changes guitars as he likes on live shows but sticks to the rhythm guitar during recording. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Ngwazi easily bodies Macheso for momentum and current form. Ngwazi\u2019s latest album has the cleaner sound, lyrical range and conceptual ambition<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ngwazi could easily be the most aggressive of Macheso disciples. The main narrative from his latest album, Nharo neZvine Nharo,<\/em> has been who is the reigning king of Sungura between the two men. There are few ways to break down the comparison. Macheso has a longer great album run, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010, while younger Ngwazi only recorded his second great album after 2020\u2019s Chamugwegwedu Chamatindike<\/em>. Beginning work in 2015, his four mid-level albums before 2020 are more decent than Macheso\u2019s offerings in the same period. Ngwazi easily bodies Macheso for momentum and current form. His latest albums have the cleaner sound, lyrical range and conceptual ambition. Ultimately, the question is not who is ringing now but what kind of legacy each artist is building. This is where Macheso is secure and Ngwazi, a hungry underdog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The outpouring of think-pieces reminding Ngwazi to keep his head under his skull misses the point. Harold Bloom spelt the question that keeps any serious artist up at night: \u201cHow to kill the Master?\u201d As Harold puts it, a new poet only feels worth his office when he is convinced that he is working within his own original vision. But there will always be, to lean heavily against his sense of individuality, the Father, in whose lap he first learnt language. Soon enough, the new poet worries that every cool thing he got to say was already said by the Master. Our poor rookie becomes an anathema to himself. \u201cHe cannot be Adam on creation morning.\u201d To know himself for a man, he must turn against the Master. He convinces himself that the Master went wrong. He browbeats the Big Other. He misreads him just so he can correct him. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The private languages of the greats are born in parricide. Ngwazi may not be consciously about this but the 2022\u2019s biggest song, \u201cNyaradzo yaBaba ngaiitwe katatu<\/em>\u201d (Father\u2019s memorial service must be held thrice), has a Freudian layer to it. He has already thrown two oedipal jabs with Chamugwegwedu Chamatindike<\/em> (2020) and Nharo nezvineNharo (2022). A third album on this level would be enough to earn him the Sungura throne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sungura cyberture <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the gospel of Mark: \u201cGod is able to enable the unable to be able in Mebo\/ makomborero hobho<\/em>,\u201d one  Paul had already sent an epistle to heaven in the same borrowed grammar: \u201cFor how many years have I been in this orchard as a bachelor in this orchard, question mark nga<\/em>? What sin did I commit before this woman was created? Check my record!\u201d Paul Matavire was the one who brought English to Sungura. Of Ngwazi\u2019s named influences, he places particular emphasis on two men: \u201cThe person who inspired me the most is Paul Matavire. Marko Sibanda as well. I liked their compositions a lot.\u201d It\u2019s not hard to tell. Both legends were humorists, just like the exceltional  Ngwazi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thomas \u201cMukanya\u201d Mapfumo, influential Zimbabwean Chimurenga musician and songwriter. Photo: This is Africa<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zimbabwean music has always been a rich site of orature. For Lovemore Majaivana, Zexie Manatsa and Thomas Mapfumo, the return to orature was tied to political necessity. The language was fixed, forced back to time-worn romances for mysticism and metaphor. Their nostalgia is a form of activism that feeds the spiritually displaced. Less fixed is Dzemagitare, the genre of Ngwaru Mapundu, John White, Steve Makoni and other forgotten greats. Here urban life and civilisational shock meets Shona folklore, resulting in new idioms. Related to maskandi and folk music, the acoustic genre evokes the image of the wandering guitarist playing for change on trains and other cityscapes. Within this train trope, he is a rootless griot, a rombe<\/em> (Unoka\/ Jazi Manikiniki type) confessing his condition with bluesy resignation but, more importantly, laughing at himself and his audiences. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Mark Ngwazi is chatting up younger listeners with a new style that gives and takes from the internet, and touches up the wisdom of the ancients with intertextual twists<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dzemagitare players work with handed-down stories, traditional, biblical or beer-garden yarns. Performing on the go, the solo guitarist must be able to improvise and command the charisma needed to hide his footprints. He must hold floor before audiences who would have already heard his stories. Marko Sibanda and Paul Matavire\u2019s brand of Sungura is electric Dzemagitare, oratorical and visually moving. They are also contrarian composers. Matavire\u2019s mind is wired to twist everything he hears to reveal its opposite, to find wisdom in unexpected places. Ngwazi\u2019s compositions, likewise, thrive on turning common-sense on its head to come up with new sayings and new songs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A favourite in the age of TikTokand Meta platforms, Ngwazi is also a kleptomaniac. His rhymes about Dhuterere, Gwekerere and Mahendere on \u201cHwahwa\u201d or the monya character in \u201cUpenyu\u201d are not new but and cannot be attributed to any source either outside the collective wisdom of the internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOrature means that you are embracing the life we live everyday\u201d explains scholar-poet Tanaka Chidora. \u201cOur cultural rituals, our folk tales, our traditional and urban legends, our songs, our proverbs\u2026 that\u2019s orature! But orature gets even more interesting when it goes cyber!\u201d defines elder Ngugi waThiongo\u2019s \u201ccyberture\u201d coinage. Cyberture then is \u201corature whose circulation is facilitated by communication technologies.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Ngwazi is claiming for Sungura, a special place as the art form that grew the Shona lexicon the most in the past decade<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ngwazi is a new king in this realm, not just lifting but giving back trendy witticisms in gems like \u201cTaurai Madzoka\u201d, \u201cGokwe\u201d and \u201cNyaradzo yaBaba.\u201d In this way he is also claiming for Sungura, Zimdancehall\u2019s special place as the art form that grew the Shona lexicon the most in the past decade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Message has always been central to Sungura but the language is usually formal and conservative. Ngwazi\u2019s compositions, with the jokes, memes and code-switching, moves away from the pure Shona register characteristic of Sungura. Like Matavire, he has no problem challenging received wisdom and dabbling in theodicy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wordplay and rhyme, elements more common in urban grooves, Zimdancehall and hip hop are among Ngwazi\u2019s preferred devices. Wordplay is where words go when rhyme forces them out of their logical progression. The result could be nonsensical, comical or uncanny associations. Rap great Maskiri follows this path down to the unconscious. Ngwazi follows it to where he can free Sungura\u2019s hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First published by<\/em> This Is Africa. All rights reserved. Contact author at rukudzoonai@duck.com<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mark Ngwazi inherited a Sungura songbook which depended a little too much on folk wisdom and flat moralising. Humour, wordplay and counterintuitive observation could be Ngwazi\u2019s strongest points but his charisma provides the binding virtue to the songs he is building from memes, jokes and wisecracks. 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