Mtandazo Dube
HIS voice echoes long after his tragic death back in 1995.
The massively talented Biggie Tembo (born Mhosva Marasha) played guitar, sang, composed and even tried his hand at comedy before deciding to be a preacher.
He lives on. Not just through his music but through his offspring. Biggie Tembo Jnr and his younger brother Eriah have long been entertaining music lovers in small towns, growth points and in farming communities. Followers of the popular Monday Night Jam Session at City Sports Bar in Harare have fallen in love with the pair. Biggie Jr is mostly a guitar man while Eriah is vocally gifted.
Eriah gets off the mark first with the launch of his solo album on Thursday. He says his brother Biggie Jnr and the Bhundu Boys have pledged support at the event, which is set to feature Andy Muridzo, Somandla Ndebele and Progress Chipfumo, to name just a few prominent artistes.
The albums, starting with Eriah’s 10-track effort “Mandinzwa Here”, are part of the City Sports Bar-organised Biggie Tembo commemorative events. Yesteryear stars like Patrick Mkwamba, James Nyamande, Shepherd Chinyani and Pius Makokowe are set to bless the young man’s musical journey.
The aforementioned elders, said City Sports Bar events manager Mathias Bangure, “will add depth to the event and if the two young men, Biggie Jnr and Eriah, listen to their counsel, not even the sky would be a limit”.
A chat with Eriah recently, revealed that his memories are not of a showbiz performing dad, but one that had become a devout Christian – a preacher. “I remember him mostly being at church. He encouraged me to sing at church even though I was young. He was already ministering then, but singing was a part of him, he could never leave that behind. So we sang together at home,” recalled Eriah.
When Biggie Tembo died, Eriah, who was only six, barely comprehended what was happening at the time. Most of what he has learnt about his father is from his mother, elder brothers and the media. “I only began to fully realise what had happened several years later when I was around 10-11 years old. Inspired by the memories I had and knowledge of what my father was really about — I took up music.
“Together with Biggie, when I visited the rest of my brothers here in Harare, we began to compose songs. This led to the recording of a remix of ‘Hatisi Tose’ in 2013,” narrated Eriah.
The studio experiments saw two albums “Pachedu” and “Musandishore” hastily put together with the two brothers collaborating on some of the songs. Re-enacting their father’s success, however, proved difficult and Eriah decided to dump the jit sound and move to Afro-fusion. “Biggie still does jit but I think I like Afro-fusion more that is what I’m comfortable with. But at live shows I, of course, play my father’s songs as well.”
Eriah’s first project as his own man “Mandinzwa Here”, is set to be launched at City Sports Bar this Thursday. He says his mother, Ester Mbeve, has supported his career choice since he was a young boy.
With the Harare International Carnival enveloping the city this week, Eriah takes advantage of the expected jubilant, music loving carnival-goers who will flood most CBD venues like City Sports Bar. No doubt, the late Biggie Tembo’s fans and music lovers in general await this release with bated breath.
Having taken Zimbabwean music to the outside world and curtain raised for Madonna at Wembley in front of a 70 000-strong audience — Biggie Tembo could not just have left the world without a part of him to carry on with his legacy.
Eriah and Biggie Jnr were young when he died in 1995 but today they are men and they ooze the energy, charisma and even catchy song writing their father was known for.
But one wonders; with Eriah and his brother Biggie Jr deciding to pursue different paths in music, who between the two musicheads will fill the great Biggie Tembo’s shoes? Who will recreate hits like “Simbimbino”, “Hatisi Tose” and “Faka Pressure”?
Whether it was bouts of depression, “spiritual attacks” or schizophrenia that led Biggie Tembo to take his own life – fact is he was a superstar. As I went back in time watching some of Bhundu Boys’ live shows on YouTube, mostly in Europe’s capitals and other big cities, and listened to some of their songs — one thing stood out — the lad and his group were a talented lot.
Whatever fraction of his talent his kids inherited genetically, they are worth giving a shot. Hopefully, though, their decision to pursue solo careers gives music fans more not less, in terms of the quality of music they produce.
In terms of apples that fall far away from the tree — surely it cannot get any worse than some of these so called “sons of legends” — who “music careers” are sustained not by talent but by sympathy from music fans.