The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube Sunday Leisure Correspondent
SETTING foot into Elliot Phiri’s living room in Bulawayo’s Magwegwe North suburb, you are immediately greeted with a public address sound system nestled on the left corner while on the far left there is a drum kit stashed under a room divider but is visible to the eye.Next to the drum kit, his grandson is seated on a sofa with a disc jockey CD player in front of him, with big headphones plugged on his head. The lad is busy on the decks seemingly refining his deejaying skills with the latest house music tunes.
The scene indicates that one is entering the house of a passionate music lover and intrinsically shows that Phiri lives, eats and breathes the art form.
Many would be wondering who Elliot Phiri is, never having heard of or read about the musician but most would have probably heard him strumming his guitar or blowing the pennywhistle but would have no idea that it is Phiri behind the sublime instrumental work.
Phiri has been in the music industry for the past six decades and worked with a variety of musicians that range from the South Africa’s Mahlathini, Mahotella Queens, Dorothy Masuka, Golden Rhythm Crooners, Lovemore Majaivana, Crispen Mathema, Jeys Marabini and most recently Albert Nyathi.
In between running his own various projects, Phiri was also called upon on several occasions to visit foreign musicians in the 1960s at venues that were reserved for white audiences.
He said his entry into music started off in the early 50s after falling in love with the art as he watched several musicians perform at Stanley Square in the city’s oldest suburb, Makokoba.
“Growing up in Mzilikazi’s Z Square, we would go to Stanley Square for shows to mainly watch a council-owned brass band and that is where I cultivated my interest in music. After the group disbanded, my father bought us a saxophone as instruments were going for a song but as we were young we just played with it as a toy and it broke.
“Later on I decided to buy a pennywhistle with my pocket money when I was about six or seven years of age and taught myself how to play it, marking the beginning of my musical journey. I gained a reputation as a pennywhistle singer and then I fell in love with the guitar which I bought from my earnings playing the wind instrument,” said Phiri.
The versatile musician said he mastered the guitar all by himself as he was deeply immersed in learning the new instrument when he was just 10.
After playing with various groups he hooked up with Mathema and Never Nevado to play at night spots and became backing artistes for foreign musicians such as Chris Shaw, Stewart Gunstone and Dan Williams. However, because of the segregation laws that were in place then, they were forced to play behind curtains as they were performing in whites only night clubs.
Phiri later gained fame with solo performances at Stanely Hall with the guitar and would enthrall the crowd as his ingenuity with the instrument saw him play bass, lead and rhythm with one guitar, a feat very few even today can do.
He then met Regi Msomi who took him to South Africa in the mid-60s but segregation and the way of life in Johannesburg did not appeal to Phiri and he returned home a year later, where he teamed up with his brother, Killer and Elliot Fahla to create Blue North Band and they toured Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia. They later settled in Harare at Celebrity Night Club for two years.
Phiri stayed in various places performing and at one time stayed in Kwekwe playing at Zisco then known as Risco. He also crossed the border to Botswana and played at Xtra Large night club in Francistown.
“We got a deal to play at the Midlands Hotel in Gweru and invited Majaivana to be our lead singer but he did not stay long and headed to Harare and we replaced him with the late Fanyana Dube. I also had a stint with Paul Lunga and Jazz Impacto and the Jazz Merchants where we played with the late Rueben Bee Sithole who was on the lead. Sithole later played for Majaivana,” he said.
Despite years of being in the music industry, Phiri said he is still to release his own compositions but has recorded tracks and hopes to come up with an album soon.
The guitarist has featured in studio albums of many musicians because of his immense talent and versatility.
The 70-year-old musician said he has no intention of retiring from the art.
“I never worked in any other field besides music all my life. It has been a rewarding career for me because I managed to pay lobola for my wife Sheila, buy a house and ensure my children are able to attend school up to university level with proceeds from music.
“Although I do not perform as often as I used to I am also teaching a lot of young musicians how to strum the guitar. I recorded a pennywhistle album with Nyathi and there has been talk of a tour next year,” he said.
Jeys Marabini said Phiri was a reservoir of knowledge as far as the guitar was concerned and upcoming musicians should learn from him.
“He is immensely talented and during the time I worked with him, I realised he has totally mastered the guitar. While he does not regularly play for me anymore, I consult him now and again. He (Phiri) has taught a lot of young musicians including my lead guitarist, Mthabisi Moyo and the youngster learnt well.
“I feel it is unfortunate that we do not have a music school in the western suburbs otherwise it would have provided a platform for Phiri to pass on his knowledge to upcoming guitarists,” he said.
Phiri has watched the music genres evolve from the predominantly jazz era to the current age where hip hop, dancehall, R‘n’B and house are the most listened to genres but he feels yesteryear music has more staying power.
“I think musicians now record to make a quick buck hence their music is bubblegum unlike yesteryear’s that has a staying power and a long shelf life,” he said.
Phiri attended Lotshe and Lozikeyi Primary Schools and Mpopoma High School.
