The Sunday Mail
Prince Mushawevato
MULTI-AWARD winning gospel musician Blessing Shumba last week stunningly said he is not a talented musician.
The esteemed gospel musician, who has bagged National Arts Merit Awards and has topped the Zimbabwe Coca-Cola Radio Zimbabwe Top 50 twice, told this publication that he and a couple of gospel musicians (names withheld) sing Bible verses, hence they do not qualify for the “talented musician” tag.
Shumba said composing and releasing songs is never a challenge for him since most of the work was long done by those that wrote the Holy Book.
“I’m a minister not a musician. There is a difference between a talented musician and person like myself. If you check I’m just like my fellow musicians (names supplied). We don’t struggle coming up with songs since we just re-package scriptures. Our only real challenge is on coming up with the beat to go along with the vocals,” said Shumba.
“I read verses in the Bible … and when I retire to bed or when I relax, the same Scriptures re-appear to me in the form of music. If you have any challenges with my music you can get in touch and I will refer you to the specific verse I plugged the song from.”
Boasting of 18 years as a qualified minister, he further revealed he got into music by default. The need to fish men outside his usual pool, he said, is the reason he recorded his debut album, “Ishe Wazvose”, in 2009.
Shumba added that sungura king Alick Macheso was among the few genuinely talented musicians in Zimbabwe.
“If someone tells me to stop singing today I will comply. I’m not a musician as in the form of Macheso. He is one gifted artiste. He can compose words from scratch that is from the lyrics up to the beat. That is what talent is about,” explained Shumba.
Perhaps this somewhat explains why the man who now prefers to call himself the Psalmist has so many songs to his name.
Or is this a case of a talented but humble chap?
The musician recorded close to 50 songs for consideration on his now released 12-track album, “Calvary”.
“I had 47 songs ready for release. I then narrowed the number to 14 but the songs could not all fit on the disc so I had to further reduce the number to 12 tracks on ‘Calvary’. The trend is not peculiar to this project.
“This is how it has always been. On my previous album I recorded a total of 22 tracks but ended up using only 10 songs. The songs that do not make the grade are abandoned completely. I do not ever consider them for my next projects,” he said.
It is still early days, but it looks like Shumba’s latest offering is enjoying his trademark success.
“Calvary” is loaded with the traditional Shumba touch. His unmistakable soothing voice supported by a calm resonance gently takes the listener from track-to-track.
Calvary, also known as Golgotha, was the site immediately outside Jerusalem’s walls where Jesus was crucified.
A surprise on the project pops up on track number three when the musician introduces his wife Pauline as lead vocalist on “ZvaMwari”. The song encourages believers to pay their tithes as recommended by the Holy Book.
However, the tempo causes a strain on Pauline as lead vocalist. She has a decent voice but she struggles to keep up here.
Some of the songs on the album are “RaJesu Idzvene”, “Eli Hossana”, “Anoziva Chakanaka”, “Chikomborero”, “Matatenda”, “Zvapera (Simba Remuchinjikwa)” and “Mwari Munodeiko”. Shumba’s other albums include “NdiMwari” (2011), Shongwe (2012) and “NdiJesu” (2015).
