The Sunday Mail
Mtandazo Dube
AFTER three failed managers (Zikali, Chiwara and Khaya) plus several assistants and wanna-be managers – Soul Jah Love, real name Soul Musaka, has put his wife in charge of his affairs.
Born Lynet Musenyi, the 22-year-old Bounty Lisa is now fully in control of his career.
“If Bounty managed to bathe me kusvika vanhu vaakuti ndiri mukhedha (until people thought I was Coloured) – surely she can’t fail to turn us into a professional band,” said Soul Jah Love. “I’m giving my wife my life – she has handled so many things for me.”
Bounty Lisa, a hardcore dancehall chanter herself, declared last week that “time to play was over”.
“There (are) going to be some real change now that I’m the manager. I have been concentrating on him as a person, but recently we both realised that there is need for us to focus on each other’s careers as the people we have been hiring all failed,” said Bounty Lisa.
The singer, who got engaged to Soul Jah Love in April last year before thousands of music fans at Harare Gardens – said she would ensure her husband never missed another gig.
“He (Soul Jah Love) is sick. But people do not get that be it promoters, journalists, fans or even his own manager.
“That has to change. We have to do shows that he can manage, avoid double booking and overbooking, and generally take care of him personally,” she said.
She added: “When Tuku (Oliver Mtukudzi) tells people that he cannot perform because he is sick everyone listens and they are sympathetic but when it is Soul Jah love hanzi haa ndewe dancehall. Come on – he is diabetic just like Tuku.”
The “Wandipengesa” hit singer said most of the problems they had with managers were about money.
“A manager starts to take his own money and to charge whatever they want, which is what creates all the animosity that sometimes sees the artiste not fulfilling some of his shows.
“Since taking over as the manager we have been early for shows. In Mutare we were a day earlier. Even the way we use our money has changed.”
The first lady of the Conquering Family said as an artiste she understood what was needed to make her husband go further.
“I understand him, not just as an artiste but on a personal level. He has changed a lot since we met. He no longer spends most of his time on the streets hanging with the boys – he is more responsible now.”
She added: “People think that we are always drunk and taking drugs, no. We are a normal family where I am the mother and wife and he is a proper husband.”
Bounty Lisa spoke of her desire to have children one day.
“We are now fixing our mistakes, making sure that we sort out our lives so that our kids will not live the same life that we lived.
“We are planning so that they have a better life.”
On the cloud of controversy that seems to follow the couple, she said: “It is mostly fiction. Some of these stories, I’m surprised when they come out because most of the time we are together. The few things that actually happen are then sensationalised – 90 percent of the stories are wrong.”
