The Sunday News
Ntombiyolwandle Ndlovu,Sunday Life Reporter
AWARD winning Afro jazz musician Victor Kunonga has hailed veteran South African crooner Hugh Masekela whom he has described as an icon par excellence.
Masekela has been a close buddy of the Hwedza-born and Bulawayo bred musician whose career has been on the rise ever since he cut his teeth over a decade ago.
Speaking to Sunday Life this week, the Harare-based Kunonga who is currently working on a collaborative project called Shai Shai with Masekela said he was blessed to have been one of the few musicians to get the rare opportunity of working with the legend.
Shai shai is a collaborative musical project that will comprise songs by the two musicians as well as Joyce Warikandwa, Benita Tarupiwa, Rumbidzai Tavaziva and Prudence Katomeni Mbofana.
“Talk of his persona, he is a very interesting guy full of jokes and very open to ideas and very trusting. When he gives you something he expects a certain level of professionalism and standards of work to be produced hence I can say you can’t get any better musician to work with,” he said.
Last year, Masekela was the guest in Harare at the launch of Kunonga’s fourth album titled Kwedu. From the event Kunonga got a memorable endorsement in his career which gave birth to the project now known as Shai Shai.
“My latest offering has accorded me the opportunity to possibly venture into new territories. When Hugh Masekela listened to the album he made me the music producer for his Zimbabwean Mbira Project that he is working on. The program Shai Shai is an all-female mbira ensemble and the project is to honour a very old friend of Masekela, Dumisani Maraire,” he said.
Dumisani Maraire died in November 1999, and is father to the also late mbira Queen Chiwonisa Maraire who was a master performer of the mbira, a traditional instrument of the Shona ethnic group in Zimbabwe.
As a result of this collaborative project, Kunonga said they are working on a number of live shows as part of promoting the project which he said will be launched soon.
“We will be having live shows with this project and we have actually started with the live shows. In October last year at Standard Bank Joy of Jazz in Johannesburg South Africa we had the initial live show of the project and now we are doing the final touches of the project and the audience will be seeing more of live shows,” he said.
Kunonga added that young artistes should be supported for the growth of the music industry.
He also urged artistes to make good music that will sell and make it to the airwaves.
“I have been in the music industry professionally for 12 years now and I have also been fortunate to live on music though it has been difficult. I have been hired to play in different functions and been able to sell my CDs in those functions that I perform. Up to date I am living on four albums and that is the value of doing good music because good music sustains one for a long time. I am therefore advising all artistes to make good music that will sustain them and will be able to give them a livelihood,” said Kunonga.
He has four albums to his name which are, Such is Life (2004), Uyo (2006), Handinete (2010) and Kwedu (2015). Later this year, Kunonga will be making his debut performance in the United States of America.
