The Sunday News
Kudzai Mpangi, Sunday Life Reporter
UNITED Kingdom-based sungura trio, Kambo Boys, recently dropped a smashing song accompanied by a soul soothing catchy video that swept and drowned many into the festive merry making mood.
The song “Merry Christmas” that received fair air play on ZTV was just the right song to get people into a party mood this festive season.
The group is known for songs such as Sweet Larissa, Melo and Ngirande and it seems the outfit comprising Tonde Maheu Nembaware, Nigel Fungai and Simba Mapfudze never disappoints with their latest serving proving their growing standing in the music industry.
Nembaware told Sunday Life that as a group they have always strived to make sure that they challenge themselves to be among the best in their craft and their new Christmas song was a result of their continued work to achieve listener appreciation and continued growth.
“As a group we strive to stay relevant and be outstanding in whatever we do, a few weeks ago we decided to work on a track for our fans to enjoy during Christmas. We went into the studio and started working on it and we are happy with the product we managed to come up with. We then agreed we would do a complementary video for it too,” he said.
“Our video’s script is based on what happens in Zimbabwe before Christmas and during Christmas. We really wanted to paint the picture of how people celebrate at the growth points in Zimbabwe, dancing to good music, eating good food and celebrating the holidays. We are also happy to have produced one of the few sungura Christmas videos.”
The trio said they were inspired by the joy, peace and love that come with Christmas cheer as it’s arguably the most celebrated holiday in Zimbabwe.
“In Zimbabwe everyone makes an effort to reunite with their family and reignite the spirit of togetherness. This is the time where everyone from the diaspora comes back home to enjoy spending time with other family members,” Nembaware said.
Merry Christmas is a song which features an innovative rhythm arrangement with many musical layers. Kambo Boys did the vocals and Mono Mukundu, a legendary guitarist and producer with an impeccable portfolio, did all the instruments and song production.”
“Mono Mukundu is the heart of our sound; he played all the instruments on the track. He is also a good mentor and always gives us advice to be a solid group. We really have a good working relationship with him.”
The outfit grew up listening to music legends such as Dendera King, Simon Chimbetu, as well as sungura legends like the Khiama Boys and Alick Macheso to name but a few who inspired the group to become more like them but with a much modernised feel to the sungura genre.
“Sungura is a genre we love and grew up listening to. We have a dream, a plan and we hope we can do justice to this genre and put it on the international map because sungura has great potential and now it’s our time to take the baton and run the race,” he said.
