Macheso: The last sungura superstar?

17 Jun, 2018 - 00:06 0 Views
Macheso: The last sungura superstar? Alick Macheso

The Sunday News

Alick Macheso

Alick Macheso

Bruce Ndlovu,Sunday Life Correspondent
BEFORE his album was even released, Alick Macheso had already caused ripples in the local music scene through the promotional poster for the performers at the OK Grand Challenge held at the Borrowdale Race Course a fortnight ago.

On the controversial poster, Winky D and Jah Prayzah are given more prominence than Macheso, who was virtually relegated to a supporting act alongside Jah Signal and Seh Calaz.

To Macheso’s flock, the mention of Extra Basso among such names was blasphemy, as many could not understand how Sungura’s elder statesman was being lumped together with lesser musicians.

Macheso was no longer the main actor, the poster suggested, but was now part of the supporting cast. That bit of promotional insensitivity may have deprived music lovers a chance to sample Macheso’s latest hit in the streets, as he never made it to the gig in the end.

Two weeks later and everything is perfect again on Planet Macheso. His six-track album, Dzinosvitsa Kure has been greeted with the usual excitement that is typical of every other Macheso release.

Could this one be the one that takes Macheso back to the top of the charts?

Could this be the album that silences the pretenders to his throne and feeds humble pie to critics that have been waiting, hammer in hand, to nail the final nail in his coffin?

While the jury is still out on whether his latest will surpass or even approach the quality and popularity of his old work, it is indisputable that Baba Sharo’s star still shines bright over the Zimbabwean music scene.

His catalogue of hits and a reign that lasted over a decade simple means that he cannot ever be discounted.

His catalogue speaks for itself and it does so eloquently, making sure that his name is part of the conversation about top Zimbabwean musicians for years to come.

However, as things stand, it will be hard for the sungura great to dislodge Jah Prayzah or Winky D.

Although the poster might have seemed like a personal affront against the man whose bass revolutionised sungura music, it perhaps reflected the reality on the group.

The two young pretenders to the throne have just been too dominant this decade and although fans always hope a new Macheso album turns the tide, this has not been so with his last few efforts.

Perhaps Oliver Mtukudzi’s strategy for handling the two young princes of Zimbabwean music has been telling. Instead of going head to head with the two young upstarts, Tuku has instead worked closely with them, sometimes being a supporting act at their album launches.

He even exchanged verses with Winky on a blockbuster single.

Macheso for his part has not had collaborations of note to speak of. Perhaps in a way that is admirable. Macheso is not prepared to play the game of showbiz and do collaborations with artistes that he is not compatible with, one could argue.

Water and oil should always flow in different steams and sungura and dancehall would make strange companions.

However, one wonders whether this has alienated him from certain listeners or audiences. In the age of Zim dancehall’s domination, Macheso and sungura as a genre’s failure to change made it unfashionable?

“One thing for certain is I’m going to stick to sungura and the genre does not need modifying for it to make an impact. I cannot amend it because people are saying sungura yasara (is outdated).

Those that feel the genre is no longer up there are free to try other things but should leave sungura as it is. Ndakasvika yakadaro (I found it as it is) and will leave it like that,” he told our sister paper the Sunday Mail last week.

Sungura artistes of old made their name by providing the soundtrack to the lives of everyday, ordinary people.

They broke bread with down and out youths, speaking about their joys and sorrows. The current brand of sungura is still doing the same, but are young listeners giving it an ear?

Given that the highlight of every sungura fan’s years is either reminiscing about past greats or waiting for Macheso release, critics might answer that question with an emphatic no.

Despite excitement for Macheso’s album, there does not seem to be the possibility for salvation for the genre at present.

When Macheso’s revolutionised the genre with his bass playing over two decades, it pushed the genre towards a direction many had not thought possible previously.

Someone else might need to introduce a similar bit of innovation to take it back to the top of the pile again.

If not, Macheso might be the last superstar the genre produces.

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