The Sunday Mail
Brighton Zhawi
FROM their debut effort titled ‘Season One’ to their current album ‘Jesus Saves’, Gweru-based gospel outfit, Joyful Praise, has been on a steady rise.
‘Ngoro Yeminana’ is without doubt their breakthrough song and one that has captured gospel fans and music lovers in general.
Those with a musical ear quickly picked up the Zig Zag Band’s ‘Gomo Ramasare’ feel in the song, a bit of Lucky Dube and a tad of the great Bob Marley.
The Sunday Mail Society caught up with Rudo Tania Madindi, the band’s spokesperson, who also led the choir during the live DVD recording.
“My husband (band founder Gamaliel Madindi) is a huge fan of Zig Zag Band so, he said to me let’s do something with their song (Gomo Ramasare) for the old timers and youths,” said Madindi.
She added: “One Sunday after church I sang ‘Ngoro Yeminana’.
“He was like let’s work with that and try finding more words. It is amazing how it all developed and I must credit the band for their great work because it came out beautifully.”
Madindi said she expected tracks like ‘Ayabulala’, ‘Gamba’ and ‘Ehekaka’ to be more popular than ‘Ngoro Yeminana’.
However, the track has been a runaway hit and a fan favourite almost a year after its release.
Since releasing ‘Ngoro Yeminana’, Joyful Praise has been unpredictable, releasing new music without notice.
“We don’t want to be one hit wonder, but we also don’t want to give out everything. When we feel a song has been accepted and people are used to it, we release another one, this will continue forever,” said Madindi.
Members of the Joyful Praise Choir are drawn from all over the country. With more than 50 band members, the choir has grown into one of the most sought-after local gospel groups.
“It has been six years now since my husband thought of impacting lives through music.
“What started off as a private audition for a small group of aspiring singers has gotten us to where we are now,” she said.
Madindi said the road that the choir has travelled so far has been paved with thorns.
However, their recent success means they now have stories to tell and jokes to laugh about during their occasional camps and all-night rehearsals.
“Our first DVD in 2013 never came out, we used an amateur studio and they lost everything. It was hard but we pushed on and in 2014 we did ‘Zvangu Zvaita’ with Mono Mukundu, it was much better. However, we flopped on another live video recording at Gweru Sports Club in 2015. But then, we worked hard to release ‘Jesus’ Love’ in 2016, which made a positive impact in Gweru and some surrounding areas.”
On what has kept them together for this long, Madindi said, “We are family more than a choir. We regularly meet for braai. Above all, we pray a lot, we are a praying group.”
