Myth busting with Thomas Mapfumo

ABOUT Thomas Mapfumo, a lot of stories are told. Most are false, as I recently found out during an hour-long chat with the legend himself.

Recall the story of how Mapfumo is said to have once responded when asked to name his top five Zimbabwean musicians?

Mapfumo, it is claimed, replied: “Number one, Thomas Mapfumo. Number two, no-one. Number three, no-one. Number four, no-one. Number five, Marshal Munhumumwe.”

The story has a few other variations – depending on who is telling it. But your impressions of Mapfumo after listening to the story, in its many variations, is that he is one arrogant b******! Which he is, by the way, but for totally different reasons!

I was very keen to clear that up with Mapfumo the moment I met him.

Did he ever say it? “I don’t talk like that about other musicians. People create things; it’s something of a creation,” he assured me. “I can never talk bad about other musicians, that’s not my character. I love everyone, I love music.”

Then it was time to bring up the ‘O’ word. Oliver. It is received wisdom Mukanya doesn’t like Mtukudzi so much so it is said that once, when his driver put the hit tune, Paivepo, on their tour bus in America, he was told to “take that rubbish off”.

So, does he like Oliver? “Of course, we’ve been buddies for a long time. We played together a long time ago.”

Evidently a good story teller himself, Mukanya took me back in time, to the good old days when Oliver sang exclusively in English!

Said Mapfumo: “When I met Oliver for the first time, I was already established myself. I was a senior. It was at my uncle, James Bond’s place (apparently this Bond, real name Kenneth Chogugudza, got the nickname because he wanted to be like the movie character).

“I was coming from Mutare myself where we were contracted at a hotel in Dangamvura. When I returned to Harare, that’s when I met Oliver. He was practising at James Bond’s place because this guy used to own equipment, so a lot of youngsters used to go there just to practise music. After I met Oliver, we had a short tour together. I was already singing my Shona music, and he was playing something strange… he was playing a guitar, singing a song like… we used to call the song Green for Go and Red for Stop.

“I said to him, ‘you guy, why don’t you sing in your mother’s language?’ He was a good guy, he took my advice. He even asked for one of my songs Tamba Zvako Marujata (Rova Ngoma Mutavara). It was a traditional tune, which I used to sing myself. He came to me and asked if he could record the music and I said you can go on and record it. It came out beautifully and everybody liked it, and I also thought it was a good song.”

Another myth about Mapfumo and Mtukudzi is that they were once members of the same band. Not quite, Mukanya tells me.

“The Black Spirits (now the name of Mtukudzi’s band) was my band,” Mapfumo says. “He was with Wagon Wheels, and then they changed it to Black Spirits. Our Black Spirits disbanded, and then we formed the Blacks Unlimited. He never played with Blacks Unlimited; he was with Wagon Wheels before they changed their name to Black Spirits. We played together on that short tour when he was singing Red for Stop and Green for Go. At that time, that group had no name when we toured… it was just Green for Go and Red for Stop.”

The mere mention of Mtukudzi’s first hit – which to my knowledge has not survived into any of his recordings – sent Mukanya into peals of delirious laughter. He remembers it like he had heard it yesterday.

Mapfumo, who was set to stage a duet with Mtukudzi during their UK tour last Easter, also told me why they abandoned the plans after trying it once on their first stop in Ireland.

“We just didn’t have enough time to rehearse together. It didn’t quite come out right in Ireland,” he says, “We were always waking up in the morning, tired, and going to the next show.”

I get the sense that he REALLY wanted to do the joint performance. But it was a disaster in Ireland, and as Mtukudzi would say, Red for Stop!

Now we know what Mapfumo really thinks of Mtukudzi. “Oliver is good, I listen to his music. There are some of his songs that I admire a lot.”

How about Alick Macheso, the man slowly climbing up the hierarchy of Zimbabwe music?

“Alick is a good friend of mine because he smokes also,” Mapfumo says before breaking into a mighty roar of laughter. “His music is good; he has got a style of his own. You know if one is liked by the public, then he is good. We cannot go wrong about that.”

When Mapfumo speaks of “smoking”, he means mbanje (marijuana). He openly admits he will not go on stage without taking a puff. It’s all part of the act, he says.

From the Beatles to Miriam Makeba, Mapfumo listens to them all. He reserves the most lavish praise for the late John Chibadura, his late great uncle Marshal Munhumumwe and the South African singer, Johnny Clegg, whom he calls “my best friend”.

“I listen to everyone, every musician as long as the music is good,” he says. “I used to like John Chibadura. He had a style of his own. I like his style because it was something else… it was something from Zimbabwe. Then there is Johnny Clegg, South African guy, white guy, my best friend. I like his music. I play that music everyday. I got two of his exciting CDs, I know they are jealous about him in South Africa because he is white but he does better than the black singers are doing. He is really good.”

Mapfumo’s play list also includes the likes of Hugh Masekela, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Chicago and Otis Ray Redding, Jr.

He sparkles when he gets to the Beatles. “They are my favourites. I really liked those guys, their music was really good.”

On his uncle, Marshal, Mapfumo says: “I actually brought him to stay in the city, and I taught him how to play music. He was my uncle, hanzvadzi yamai vangu. He was a door-man and we taught him how to play drums. He was a good drummer, then he became a vocalist on his own. He was very successful; he had a very good voice.”

On the late Tineyi Chikupu, Mapfumo says “that was real traditional Zimbabwe music”.

Leonard Dembo? “He had a style of his own, really good.”

The new breed of singers? “There are a lot of youngsters who are also doing very well, and we praise them.”

Mapfumo longs for the day he will return home from his exile in the United States, but he has fears for his safety.

“I can go to Zimbabwe, but with the situation which is there today, you never know,” he says. “Some people are your good friends, some people are not your good friends, and you just don’t trust anyone. You go there your friends will say ‘welcome home’, but your enemies will say ‘here he is’. It’s not those who have posts in the government who will do that, but they will send someone to do it… those who are not known, who really don’t care what happens. They have no cause… give them $50 and say ‘go kill someone’, they will do it.”