The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Correspondent
Their reunion, almost three years ago, was greeted with pomp and fanfare as fans once again pinned hopes on the Afrika Revenge duo of Willis Wataffi and Mehluli “Taz” Moyo to deliver their brand of uniquely modern but unapologetically Zimbabwean brand of music.
Almost a decade after the Bulawayo born crew obliterated the charts with the song Wanga, proving at their then tender ages that music genius knows no age, the duo announced that they will reignite the spark in a romance that had suddenly gone cold when they had the world at their feet.
The excitement of fans was understandable. The spirit of Wanga, that classic tune which wrapped its mockery of a financially underachieving Zimbabwean youth in an irresistible, catchy chorus, was about to be reawakened.
Many wondered whether, in its rebirth, Afrika Revenge would once again sweep Afro Jazz from modestly attended laidback, small clubs to the glory of the pop charts. Did they still have the will and desire to fight tooth and nail for the top spot with today’s chanters and wordsmiths in the same way that they had with urban grooves’ crooners?
Before such questions were answered however, the trail grew cold once again. The fire that had been ignited in the bellies of the lovers of Qaya Roots music was once again replaced by grumblings of hunger as the duo of Wataffi and
Taz once again starved them of the old Afrika Revenge magic.
At first the starvation did not seem like it would become a prolonged drought. Crumbs like the two singles Amehlo Akhe and Chipikiri were given away by what everyone thought was a rejuvenated Afrika Revenge. Since then however, mentions of anything related to the group all but vanished. Wataffi is now blazing a new trail as a gospel artiste, with his single Ngaavongwe topping the charts for multiple weeks.
Taz meanwhile, has instead maintained a low key profile on the music scene. As things stand, Afrika Revenge exists in all but name only. So what went wrong?
According to Wataffi, an Afrika Revenge reunion album has been stalled by the lack of output from Taz who is yet to contribute his half of a planned project.
“Our agreement was that I was going to submit five songs and Taz was going to submit the other five. I’ve submitted my share of the songs but we have been waiting for him to submit his five and that’s where we’ve encountered problems,” said Wataffi.
According to Wataffi, they had come to the agreement after it emerged that Taz wanted to start writing some of the group’s songs. Before their initial fallout, the writing duties fell to Wataffi.
“As you know I used to write the majority of the songs for Afrika Revenge but one of the conditions that Taz came up with was that he wanted to write some of the songs now. I thought if he wanted to handle a share of the responsibilities it was good thing.
“One of my own conditions was that I would keep my band and solo identity because it is a band that I had been nurturing for nine long years. I couldn’t take a risk on the Afrika Revenge thing because we didn’t know it would work. So basically with nothing coming out of that partnership we basically continued as before and kept our solo identities,” he said.
The dreadlocked music maestro said what has happened in the aftermath of their reunion had justified his decision to keep his solo identity. Had he sat on his laurels and waited for Afrika Revenge to recapture its magic of old, his career would have also crashed and burned.
“At this moment Afrika Revenge is not one of my top priorities. Imagine if I had sat and waited for things to happen? It wasn’t hard for me to come up with my five songs because I had been working for nine years and had over 250 songs in the bank,” Wataffi.
Wataffi said that he was happy for fans to hear his side of the story, as he felt that it might jolt his partner into action.
“It’s good for people to know because they’re always asking. The truth doesn’t hurt anyone. It makes everyone’s job easier when the truth is out there because they don’t have to keep asking me what’s going on,” he said.
While Wataffi is still going strong, his old partner in song now runs the risk of becoming one of Zimbabwean music’s forgotten men. Contacted for his own version of events, Taz said that he would not comment.
“I can’t comment on this. However, my representatives will call you and inform you of my position,” he said.
There was no comment from Taz’s camp until going to print.
