The Sunday News
Vincent Gono, Sunday Life Reporter
ANYONE with a voice can sing to themselves and for themselves, that is very easy. But to compose a song with meaningful lyrics — that drives a message and excites the audience in the cut-throat music industry ring-fenced by males is not easy, more so to a female artiste who is entirely new in the sector.
Admittedly the country’s music industry has not been so kind to many female artistes who have been struggling to break out of the shell of fame into the celebrity pool. Fame has therefore been so elusive to the many women artistes and a number of them have stories that are not so comfy to tell while some just decided to give up, not so much because they were bad but they were simply frustrated out of the industry.
An up-and-coming gospel artiste from Bulawayo’s leafy suburbs of Parklands but now based in Kwekwe, Nomazulu Chrystal is one of the few female artistes whose spirit could not be easily broken. She remained dedicated in spite of all the barriers and has managed to live her dream of recording her music in the face of many challenges that littered her journey.
Unlike Selmor Mtukudzi and Ammara Brown, Noma is not daughter to any famous or little known musician, she has no brother or sister in the music industry and every step of hers is an adventure into unchartered waters where trial and error have characterised her journey to perfection.
She launched her first single online during the Easter holidays in Kwekwe. The single is called Nqonqoda which means keep knocking and was produced by Tony G. Through the song, she seeks to encourage people especially those that pray not to give up but be persistent in prayer even when the odds are against them.
Speaking to Sunday Life, Noma as she is popularly known narrated how she became an artiste saying most of her compositions were inspired by her personal experiences while some were based on things that she sees in other people’s lives.
“I started my career a long time ago. I was in Form 2 when I started writing songs but I couldn’t record any. My talent was later to be nurtured through the praise and worship team in church,” she said.
Noma said growing up in a Christian background had a significant influence on the genre of music adding that she doesn’t see herself diverting from gospel music in the foreseeable future.
“I sing Afro-fusion gospel music. My recently released single is in English but this is not to say I will confine myself to English. I will release singles in all three common languages which are Ndebele, Shona and English. I want my music to reach out to everyone and this has inspired the inclusion of English,” said Noma.
And to get more appreciation of the music industry, she did a degree in Music and Musicology at the Midlands State University (MSU).
“I got a lot of appreciation into the music industry when I did my degree. I learnt how to play a number of instruments. I am teaching others who are keen on learning more about music. I believe there is hunger to learn out there especially in female up-and-coming artistes,” said Noma.
She added that the biggest huddle was that female artistes were looked down upon by male artistes who want to hedge the industry and were content with females being backing vocalists.
“They are sort of intimidated when females look like they are dominating. I was told several times that I was not good enough, that I did not qualify. So the thinking is that the industry is for males.”
She however, said she never experienced any sexual advances although some female artistes attest to that adding that her husband and church have been a pillar of strength in her music career.
