The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Senior Reporter
“I LONG for a day where I will sing on 18 April which is Zimbabwe’s Independence Day,” said legendary jazz musician Dorothy Masuka who is based in South Africa and was in the country from Friday last week until this morning when she returns to her base.
Masuka fondly known as Aunty Dot was in Bulawayo attending a wedding of her cousin’s son Bethwell Ncube at Four Winds where she performed. She said one of her wishes was to perform at Zimbabwe’s Independence Day Celebrations.
“I just got back from New York where there were South Africa Day commemorations which were held on 27 April. They had called me, I do not know why I do not get called to Zimbabwe for their Independence commemorations, I hope next year I will still be alive and will I come and perform,” she said.
Masuka, now 82, said there is a strong bond that she has with the city as it is her birth place.
“It is nice to be home, because I have an older sister who stays in Old Pumula, she is 94 years old now so it completes my life to be here. This is where my life began, being born in a country means that is where your roots are,” she said.
She went on: “When I land in Bulawayo there is something that happens to me, something I feel that is hard to put in to words. But I guess being born in a country just means a lot, there is a connection that you feel always. I was here for ZITF the other year with Abigail Khubeka. I usually sneak in and sneak out of Zimbabwe which is very bad,” she chuckled.
She gave a brief history of how her parents met.
“My mum comes from KwaZulu-Natal and my father from Zambia, I was born in Bulawayo. My mother worked as a nanny for a doctor and my father worked on a train as a chef, so one day the doctor asked for food for the nanny and my father was sent to serve her and that is how they met. They fell in love and I was born. I am a three-in-one, Zimbabwe is my home though,” she said.
Currently she is working with schools in South Africa on the arts and culture scene.
“I am doing a lot. I do a lot of arts and culture. I move in schools after the Arts and Culture Minister in South Africa enlisted our services together with Abigail Khubeka and Letta Mbulu to help the sector grow. There are only three of us left in South Africa from the old group of singers of this region,” she said.
She said: “The government is thinking that we should start grooming young talented people because they do not know the meaning of their music and also the roots of the music that they perform. They have lost the African sentiments in the music they produce; each country should be identified by its music. Today’s singers will tell you more about Beyonce instead of their own artistes,” she lamented.
She said when the young musicians go abroad to perform they do not know what to perform.
“They go overseas and they sing not so well because they are imitating other musicians and their audiences wonder what music they will be singing because they are expecting music that relates with that musician’s home country,” added Masuka.
She said even if she was in a far away land and she heard the mbira, she would associate the beat with Zimbabwe.
“Our Zimbabwean youngsters should be able to play mbira because it is their own culture. Oliver Mtukudzi my son, for one should be their role model; the country needs such music which will keep our culture alive. We need more Oliver Mtukudzis,” she added.
Despite having settled in South Africa decades ago, Masuka is still in touch with the local musical scene.
“I follow a lot of Zimbabwean music and what I am hearing is a lot of strange music, they call it hip-hop and all sorts, we cannot stop them but we have to talk to them nicely and encourage them to do proper music. The likes of Zex Manatsa sang good music that relates to Africans,” she said.
She encouraged young musicians to follow people like Albert Nyathi who she said would educate them on doing things the African way. Masuka said musicians should also do their work out of passion and not money all the time. She said Zimbabwean singers should work on refining the mbira tunes and research more about them. Masuka said she had been singing for more than 70 years but had not lost her African touch, something she said was keeping her relevant to people all over the world.
