The Sunday Mail
THOMAS “Mukanya” Mapfumo is stuck in the past and his latest offering, “Danger Zone”, says it all.
The 12-track album, which comes after his 2010 last release, “Exile”, indicates that the once revered Chimurenga musician has completely lost touch with his roots.
Just like in his previous projects, the musician has maintained his hard-hitting stance but unfortunately is now firing offside.
Arguably one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated international musicians, the musician evidently now needs help. It seems he does not know where to direct his anger after he opted for self-imposed exile in the United States following a scandal involving stolen cars.
While Mukanya’s die-hard fans can still identify with the musician’s traditional beat that has justly and steadily transformed in the last four decades to suit modern-day music trends, only a handful have endorsed his misguided message.
Late last year, the musician held three gigs in South Africa. The attendance was below expected standards with the one in Messina (which is close to home), being a complete catastrophe. This was despite the fact that the 69-year-old last performed in Zimbabwe over a decade ago.
Mapfumo, an iconic figure of the liberation struggle through his music, moved with the national chant for about a decade and half but lost the plot along the way.
His conduct and logic is no longer reflective of a man who had an honorary master’s degree bestowed upon him by the University of Zimbabwe in 1999, for his sterling music career.
The genius has lost the moral compass and focus.
To his credit, the instrumentation on “Danger Zone” just like on “Afro Chimurenga”, “Sweet Chimurenga”, “Chimurenga 98” and “Chimurenga Masterpiece”, proves to be a world class production.
The resonance, which is a mixture of traditional and new sounds that have been created in recent times around the globe easily ushers you from one track to the other.
So good is the sound that one wishes that Mukanya did not contaminate most of his tracks with what have seemingly become obsolete messages. If lyrics are proving to be a challenge, then the veteran musician should have recorded instrumentals instead of ridiculing himself by recording songs like, “Hatidi Politics”, “Zimbabwe”, “Chikwereti” and “Nhamo Urombo” .
In fact, he should have taken advice from his song “Hatidi Politics” that calls for the general public and politicians to stop politicking unnecessarily.
Misdirected political bickering only serves to create problems.
One would expect Mapfumo, considering his musical experience, to understand that being foul-mouthed about one’s country without details makes one a mockery.
Most music fans who attended the launch of Mukanya’s album at the Book Café a fortnight ago were not impressed.
Music critic Professor Fred Zindi said: “Not much has changed on his (Mukanya) work as evidenced by this new album.
“Lyrically though, he has become more emotional like on ‘Nhamo Hurombo’.
“He is now more controversial and emotive, but his social commentary continues to be viewed both negatively and positively by Zimbabweans.”
In the song “Zimbabwe” he urges Zimbabweans to unite and find common ground on the challenges facing the country. But it appears Mukanya conveniently forgets that a resounding 2013 electoral victory that saw the MDC-T being trounced by Zanu-PF is a sign of a united people who know what they want.
The veteran musician, in the new album, continuously makes reference to a now past Zimbabwe. Evidently he is not conversant with developments that have taken place in the country before and after the Government of National Unity (GNU), thus the call for him to return home and salvage relevance.
“ . . . definitely Thomas wants to come home. But the last time I talked to him he sounded nervous. He was talking about the constitution and freedom of expression vis-à-vis his music. But if he does come, I’m sure he can fill the stadium any day for his first show, but thereafter he will find the going tough.
“So basically I can say he is slowly becoming irrelevant to Zimbabwe,” added Prof Zindi.
The music critic further added that previous efforts to bring Mukanya home have been in vain. His conversations with the United States-based artiste indicated that the closest he can be to home is South Africa.
His stint in the United States has made him eloquent not with the Zimbabwean story but with issues that are valued by the Americans as evidenced in the title track “Danger Zone”.
In one of the songs titled “Ndangariro”, the musician acknowledges that Zimbabwe (the people and issues) is now to him nothing more than just a dream.
“Chikonzero” is a finely tuned song which dwells on marriages and divorce. In the track, a spouse questions why the other half despises her.
“Varimudande”, “Are You Ready” and “Pasi Idandaro” are the other tracks on the album.
The exquisite use of the mbira (thumb piano) on the songs deserves special mention. Most music fans wish that the troubled musician redeem himself and be “The Lion of Zimbabwe” he once was when he unleashed monster hits like “Madhebura”, “Hwahwa”, “Chako Ndechako”, “Guruve”, “Chemera Chaunoda”, “Kudenga” and “Magariro”, among many others.
This idea of being eccentric to the extent of composing a song like “Big in America” on his album “Manhungetunge” will only help to further shove him into oblivion.
