The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu
IN a country where the industry is dominated by men, a group of nine female musicians have come together to form a band that they hope will usher in a new period of women’s excellence and dominance in music.
For two years, the nine women under the tutelage of the group’s director Ishe Gara trained to master drums, the keyboard, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, marimba and the bass guitar, among other instruments.
Afroqueens is comprised of Gugulethu Sibanda, Nesisa Ndlovu, Nomagugu Maseko, Rea Moyo, Muhle Ncube, Anesu Chipendo, Charity Sibanda, Rizwana Gwini and Ongeziwe Ncube.
In an interview with Sunday Life, the group’s director, Ishe Gara said after training for two years, the group is now raring to go.
“The aim of starting this group was to show that women are not just backing vocalists but instead they can become bass guitarists, lead singers and even sound engineers. For two years they have been training and during that time they learnt both the theoretical and practical aspects of making music,” he said.
According to Gara, while the music industry as a whole is male dominated, there is space for a well trained women’s group to challenge the top dogs in the country.
“For two years they trained vigorously and now I believe that they’ve got the skills to make their own bit of history because women’s groups of that magnitude are a rarity,” he said.
The group already has one album in the vault, an eight- track effort titled It’s a Wonder, and lead vocalist Gugulethu Sibanda said the journey towards the making of that album was a bumpy one.
“I always used to sing but before I joined Afroqueens I couldn’t play any instruments. I’ve always loved the idea of being in a women’s band but there aren’t many all-female bands out there so it was always a distant dream.
“Now things are different. I learnt both the theoretical and practical aspects of making music and if I were to meet other professional musicians I would tell them exactly what I want when making a song,” she said.
The group’s lead vocalist, who counts the likes of Dorothy Masuka and Zahara as some of her inspirations, said a lack of opportunities had seen her fail to refine her talent and interest in music earlier on.
“I had no music experience even though I could sing. We’ve come far as musicians and it was through this group that most of us learnt music theory. We learnt about the music business as a whole,” she said.
Keyboardist Nomagugu Maseko said despite the fact that they could conquer the local music scene she felt that they had to work twice as hard as their male counterparts.
“We’re not seen as equals and we have to push harder to be seen on the same level as men. Even when we’re successful people tend to think there’re men pulling the strings behind the scenes,” she said.
