#Thread So, a long-ish thread on Zim gospel.

It’s hard to know where to start; Freedom Sengwayo? Machanic Manyeruke? Jordan Chataika? Brian Sibalo? We’ll share very brief histories on them.

Some of the pioneers of recording gospel music: In the 70s, these two young nuns, Gertrude Matsika and Tendai Maminimini, defied church convention and patriarchy and took up guitars and recorded music.
Jordan Chataika: Born in Bulawayo in 1939. In 1960, aged 21, he got a job as petrol attendant at Kamfinsa. There, he taught a work colleague how to play a guitar. Impressed, that fella’s dad bought Jordan a new guitar.
Chataika wasn’t a gospel singer then; he was one of those famous ‘dzemagitare/omasganda’ fellas who roved around playing guitar. Problem for Jordan was, he had a disability, so this limited him
In 1961, Jordan met one of the famous solo guitar legends, one Safirio Madzikatire. He recorded his first seven single, “Vana Va-Israel”, with Safirio’s help
Jordan’s break came by accident, as they sometimes do. Wilson Chivaura, a presenter and radio poet, needed a theme song for his show. He came across Jordan at the RBC studios, and asked Jordna to sing a song as he recited his poetry.
Jordan Chataika, together with his sisters Molly and Edna, formed the Highway Stars in the 1970s. They were among some of the first to record gospel
Around the same time, another gospel artist was finding his way. Machanic Manyeruke.
Born at St Patrick’s in the Midlands, he came to Harare and found work as a gardener in Borrowdale.
In this video, Machanic says he was inspired by his contemporary, Jordan Chataika, as well as Jim Reeves

In the 80s local record companies rejected Manyeruke’s music. He kept playing, hoping someone would notice. He was now working at Anglo American, making tea.
Then, one day, a phone call came through...

His first recording had come in 1973, when he had been encouraged by the Salvation Army divisional leader, Jonah Matswetu, to take his music forward. It took 10 years to get a major recording deal
AK Mapfumo, the big studio boss at Teal Records (Gramma), wasn’t convinced that Machanic’s music could sell. It took Bothwell Nyamhondera, the sound engineer, to convince him. He was rarely wrong...
Then there was the icon himself, Freedom Sengwayo. He was the son of the great evangelist, Morgan Sengwayo, who founded the Apostolic Faith Church in Zimbabwe. A church that has such a beautiful music tradition.

Read more about the Sengwayos here: https://t.co/Pj0A7iEBvb
Freedom set the pace, dictating what a lot of Zim gospel music would sound like through the 80s. No words to describe how beautiful this duet with his wife Agnes is, ‘Better World’.

Trivia: Freedom Sengwayo was a big country music fan. That song, “Better world” was adapted from “Fallen Angel, an old 1970s duet by actor/singer Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.

Freedom is responsible for much-loved classics such as Thula Sizwe, an anti-apartheid song, Ngelinye Ilanga.
The controversy in his church also inspired many of his songs. Listen to Tell My Father, in which he sings of the abuse he faced after his father died, and “Cheated Man”
Freedom was so successful, that it became a problem for everyone else who wanted to record gospel, as the next icons in the thread were to find out...
Early 80s, the Family Singers wrote “Tarira Nguva Yashe”.

Jonathan Wutawunashe recalls:
“We took this to Gallo at a time they were phasing out even the great Freedom Sengwayo. They felt the appetite for Zimbabwean Gospel had waned. They said no”

What a song!!
Then the Family Singers dropped Nditorei and the nation dropped to its knees.. epic stuff

For many years, gospel was all about just the singing. The Family Singers made it also about the music. Ndinokidai totally overturned how people played gospel. It didn’t have to be, always, slow and mournful. It could be as funky as this. Oh, the bassline.. THE BASSLINE! 🙌🏽
This song, the elders say, is what brought them out of their homes when Andrew Wutawunashe hit the hood on one of his Family of God crusades. One more time...😊

Shelter from the storm, shelter in the night... maiwe kani 🙌🏽

The Family Singers were perhaps the first - stand to be corrected- to put out a live worship recording. “African Praise” album is like what you get now from Zim Praise and others.
This couple had also served Zim in the diplomatic service. Salute.
Also special mention to Shuvai’s faithful hairstylist. Loyalty
And then to another icon.

Brian Sibalo was only 18 when he made his first record. Together with his friends, the Manyame siblings Otis and Nico, of Kwekwe, they were the Golden Gospel Sounds
His first album, “Oh Hallelujah” didn’t do to well. The ZMC producers said it was because was trying too much to sound like Freedom Sengwayo, his inspiration.

Of course he sounded like Freedom. Saka??! 💁🏾‍♂️
Brian Sibalo left ZMC and joined RTP. There, his music changed. He jazzed it up. This song, Sizofika Ezulwini, is a remake of one he had done in the 80s. The earlier one had been more in the Sengwayo style. This one, he out some jazz under it.
And then, Ndiri Mufambi, Brian’s big break. Real classic
The 90s were great for gospel; evangelical churches were growing (and competing), and singers were exploring different sounds, away from the Sengwayos, Chataikas etc. Suddenly, people realised; it’s not about the beat, it’s about the message. Golden era
In came the likes of Charles Charamba, with his Sungura flavoured gospel. This was one of his first tunes. Totally different sound..

More from Culture

One of the authors of the Policy Exchange report on academic free speech thinks it is "ridiculous" to expect him to accurately portray an incident at Cardiff University in his study, both in the reporting and in a question put to a student sample.


Here is the incident Kaufmann incorporated into his study, as told by a Cardiff professor who was there. As you can see, the incident involved the university intervening to *uphold* free speech principles:


Here is the first mention of the Greer at Cardiff incident in Kaufmann's report. It refers to the "concrete case" of the "no-platforming of Germaine Greer". Any reasonable reader would assume that refers to an incident of no-platforming instead of its opposite.


Here is the next mention of Greer in the report. The text asks whether the University "should have overruled protestors" and "stepped in...and guaranteed Greer the right to speak". Again the strong implication is that this did not happen and Greer was "no platformed".


The authors could easily have added a footnote at this point explaining what actually happened in Cardiff. They did not.

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"I lied about my basic beliefs in order to keep a prestigious job. Now that it will be zero-cost to me, I have a few things to say."


We know that elite institutions like the one Flier was in (partial) charge of rely on irrelevant status markers like private school education, whiteness, legacy, and ability to charm an old white guy at an interview.

Harvard's discriminatory policies are becoming increasingly well known, across the political spectrum (see, e.g., the recent lawsuit on discrimination against East Asian applications.)

It's refreshing to hear a senior administrator admits to personally opposing policies that attempt to remedy these basic flaws. These are flaws that harm his institution's ability to do cutting-edge research and to serve the public.

Harvard is being eclipsed by institutions that have different ideas about how to run a 21st Century institution. Stanford, for one; the UC system; the "public Ivys".
दधीचि ऋषि को मनाही थी कि वह अश्विनी कुमारों को किसी भी अवस्था में ब्रह्मविद्या का उपदेश नहीं दें। ये आदेश देवराज इन्द्र का था।वह नहीं चाहते थे कि उनके सिंहासन को प्रत्यक्ष या परोक्ष रुप से कोई भी खतरा हो।मगर जब अश्विनी कुमारों ने सहृदय प्रार्थना की तो महर्षि सहर्ष मान गए।


और उन्होनें ब्रह्मविद्या का ज्ञान अश्विनि कुमारों को दे दिया। गुप्तचरों के माध्यम से जब खबर इन्द्रदेव तक पहुंची तो वे क्रोध में खड़ग ले कर गए और महर्षि दधीचि का सर धड़ से अलग कर दिया।मगर अश्विनी कुमार भी कहां चुप बैठने वाले थे।उन्होने तुरंत एक अश्व का सिर महर्षि के धड़ पे...


...प्रत्यारोपित कर उन्हें जीवित रख लिया।उस दिन के पश्चात महर्षि दधीचि अश्वशिरा भी कहलाए जाने लगे।अब आगे सुनिये की किस प्रकार महर्षि दधीचि का सर काटने वाले इन्द्र कैसे अपनी रक्षा हेतु उनके आगे गिड़गिड़ाए ।

एक बार देवराज इन्द्र अपनी सभा में बैठे थे, तो उन्हे खुद पर अभिमान हो आया।


वे सोचने लगे कि हम तीनों लोकों के स्वामी हैं। ब्राह्मण हमें यज्ञ में आहुति देते हैं और हमारी उपासना करते हैं। फिर हम सामान्य ब्राह्मण बृहस्पति से क्यों डरते हैं ?उनके आने पर क्यों खड़े हो जाते हैं?वे तो हमारी जीविका से पलते हैं। देवर्षि बृहस्पति देवताओं के गुरु थे।

अभिमान के कारण ऋषि बृहस्पति के पधारने पर न तो इन्द्र ही खड़े हुए और न ही अन्य देवों को खड़े होने दिया।देवगुरु बृहस्पति इन्द्र का ये कठोर दुर्व्यवहार देख कर चुप चाप वहां से लौट गए।कुछ देर पश्चात जब देवराज का मद उतरा तो उन्हे अपनी गलती का एहसास हुआ।