The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Correspondent
BESIDES a name that suggests some connection to the Rastafarian religion, Jah Prayzah does not seem in any way connected to Bob Marley, the legendary Jamaican reggae star who helped popularise the Jamaican born genre across the globe.
While Marley also had dreadlocks like Prayzah, the two cut vastly different figures. This differences are particularly evident in their music. While Marley was a reggae virtuoso, a masterful musician who personified the raging heart of the black consciousness movement, Jah Prayzah is a man whose initial claim was his ability to tame the country’s traditional music culture for contemporary tastes.
Rather than political or social commentary, Marley’s bread and butter, love songs are usually Jah’s specialty. On Friday at the inauguration of President Emmerson Mngangagwa, however, Jah seemed very much like a musician cut from the same cloth as Marley, a man who died six years before he was born in 1987.
Decked out in his signature military uniform and with his band in full voice behind him, Prayzah provided a moment that, when all is said and done, might be remembered with the same fondness as Marley’s performance on the eve of the country’s independence in Zimbabwe.
The stands at giant National Sports Stadium seemed to shake as Jah gave renditions what has suddenly become the anthem of the day, Kutonga Kwaro, a prophetic cut from his new album of the same name.
For Jah, this represented a massive turnaround. Only a few weeks ago he had been a man on the back foot, as crowds turned against a man who only a few weeks before had released an album expected to be a summer scorcher.
Crucified for his purported arrogance and late show appearances, Jah was pelted in various settings as his fans rebelled against a man who has given them a constant supply of hits over the past few years.
His return to the country after a visit to South Africa was an altogether more pleasant occasion. As he set foot on the country’s soil, he received a hero’s welcome at the Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport and Harare city centre last week where he conducted a road show upon arrival.
In another age, Marley received a similar welcome on an equally momentous occasion. Like Jah, the days leading to Marley’s journey to Zimbabwe were not rosy.
“Chris Blackwell, his manager at the time, was against this tour, but Marley, who had been following events in Zimbabwe, decided he would go,” said music scholar Fred Zindi in an interview. “He hired a PA system in London and paid for his freight to Zimbabwe at his own expense.”
Bringing Marley was a masterstroke, given that he was one of the biggest music stars in world music with a staunch following especially among black people who wanted to free themselves from white oppression. As ideal as it sounded, bringing to the southern tip of the African continent was a next to impossible task that two Zimbabwean businessmen, nightclub owner Job Kadengu and Gordon Muchanyuka, were determined to pull off as they wanted a big name to serenade the new Zimbabwe at midnight on April 17, 1980.
Marley’s arrival was every bit as dramatic and triumphant as that of Jah. According to Forbes Magazine, a bemused contingent of police in stiff green uniforms and peaked caps struggled to control a swarming crowd who came to see the arrival of the Jamaican and his Wailers. The airport had not seen so many people for years as sanctions kept the world away from a country ruled with an iron-fist by Ian Douglas Smith.
“By the time the band arrived, a chartered Boeing 707 was on its way from London to Salisbury (Harare) with 21 tonnes of equipment; a full 35,000-watt PA system plus backline equipment,” said Zindi.
“It was one of the most extraordinary logistics operations. Mick Cater, from Alec Leslie Entertainment, flew down with the equipment and then set himself the problem of building a stage in time for the celebrations. By Wednesday, when the 12-strong road crew arrived in Zimbabwe, he had six hours in which to construct the stage and find sufficient power for the PA system.”
That hero’s welcome was deserved for Marley, who for a long time had been the brightest beacon in the world of music for black people.
“During the years of Chimurenga, Bob Marley’s music had been adopted by the guerrilla forces of the Patriotic Front; indeed, there were stories of Zanla troops playing Marley cassettes in the bush,” said Zindi.
“Certainly, Marley’s music has potency and a commitment which goes far beyond simple entertainment. He now enjoys a special place in Third World culture; an artiste who directly identifies with the black African struggle. Thus, he was the only outside artiste asked to participate in Zimbabwe’s independence celebrations.”
Whether by accident or design, Jah Prayzah’s music has over the past few days become the soundtrack to the changes that have swept across the country. Jah’s lyrics are now being analyzed by those that believe that the dreadlocked music is a seer whose lyrics are studded with nuggets of prophesy. Only a few weeks after Zimbabwean ears got a taste of Kutonga Kwaro, many now know the lyrics of the song line for line.
Although he has protested his political innocence in the past, this week Jah acknowledged that his music has indeed become an anthem of the times.
“I am so overjoyed to see Zimbabwe come together united as one. The last time such love and joy in one place was present, I was not yet born, maive muna 1980, so I heard. And to top it all, it was all done in peace.
“Even though I was not there I am happy I was with you through my music and would like to thank you Zimbabwe for embracing my new album and letting it speak to you and your lives,” the musician said while in South Africa.
While he has never been overtly political like Marley, Jah’s music will now be forever tied to this historic week in Zimbabwe. Whether his music will maintain keep a finger on the pulse of historic happenings is a question for another day. Perhaps by coincidence or fate, Jah played at the historic occasion at the giant stadium at the inauguration of President Mngangagwa, the second executive President since independence after former president Robert Mugabe. — @BruciEEye
