The Sunday Mail
Clive Mono Mukundu
AS someone who has been in the music industry for the past 34 years, I have interacted with a lot of musicians and their families.
I discovered that it is rare to find a musician whose spouse is supportive because of the stigma that has been attached to the music industry and its practitioners. What more with rumours and stories of promiscuity . . .
But Stella Manatsa, wife of the late great Green Arrows band leader, Zexie Manatsa, was different from everybody. I have never seen a wife who was supportive of her husband the way she was. I can only liken her to the likes of Rita Marley, the wife of the late great Reggae music legend, Bob Marley.
Her support did not end behind closed doors. She was like her husband’s secretary and biographer as she knew all his music history. Every time the husband had an interview, she would come sit next to him. Stella would interject every time he missed or said a wrong date.
The most interesting thing is that she even knew the dates of events that took place before they even met.
When I sat down with them in 2020 for my usual informal interviews, I asked him (Zexie) when he started his music career, and he said; “1955”, but quickly decided to verify and asked “Ndizvo here Mai Manatsa?” and she gently responded; “No it was 1957”.
Her memory was sharp. She knew when every single recording was done and released. She knew how much money was made. She remembered all the unscrupulous promoters by name, as well as those that were good to her husband.
Stella Manatsa would speak glowingly of how her husband helped countless artistes who later became superstars, the likes of Oliver Mtukudzi, Leonard Dembo, Susan Mapfumo, Mechanic Manyeruke, Ngwaru Mapundu and many others.
The late Mtukudzi is one of the few artistes who openly acknowledged how the Manatsa family assisted in his rise.
In 2006, he was given an award by the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) and in his acceptance speech, he (Mtukudzi) said he was giving it (award) to Zexie Manatsa. This was a symbolic gesture to signify how Zexie Manatsa played a role in his career.
The first time I met the couple was in 1994.
We both converted to Christianity via the same church (ZAOGA) and around the same time. News quickly spread that the great Zexie Manatsa and his wife Stella had been born again. I was virtually unknown by then, but news started spreading in music circles of this new guitarist who had converted to Christianity. This was mainly because there were no lead guitarists in the entire gospel music fraternity.
So, that’s when the couple first heard about me since they needed my services.
The first time we met in person was in 1994, at a concert held at State Lottery hall.
As usual, Mai Manatsa was always by his side.
The first thing Zexie did when he saw me was to hold my fingers from both hands and started praying, asking God to bless them. Even though we spoke for a short while, chemistry was born on the spot. We went on to build a relationship which later resulted in me playing the guitar for him on some occasions, as well as paying each other visits at our homes.
I was later introduced to their sons and I became close to the boys.
According to Stella Manatsa, the first time she met Zexie was in 1972 at Bhora Shopping Centre. She was still known as Stella Katehwe and she was a shopkeeper then. Zexie would frequent the place to play at surrounding clubs at the shopping centre. The moment he saw her; he was smitten by her beauty. His proposals were turned down countless times.
In 2020, I recorded the conversation I had with them on my phone. In one of the conversations on video, he confessed how he had a difficult time winning her heart.
In the clip, Zexie naughtily joked that he won her heart after he bought her a bottle of Coca Cola, she neither admitted nor denied it, but carried on to narrate how their wedding was huge. Their wedding was held on August 25, 1979.
It was the first commercial wedding in Zimbabwe. It was held at Rufaro Stadium. People paid to get in and the whole stadium was filled.
Bishop Abel Muzorewa had a rally on the same day and it dismally flopped. Muzorewa blamed the couple’s wedding.
Besides knowing her husband’s history, she was well-versed in the Zimbabwe music industry. To me, she was the calibre that was supposed to be invited to be a guest lecturer at music institutions, as a resource person. I am happy that I managed to tap into her vast experience.
Stella Manatsa was a loyal wife who stood by her husband in both good and bad times.
In September 1987, Zexie survived a serious car accident, where he lost all his instruments. This resulted in misfortunes which saw them hit hard times then, but she remained by her husband’s side through it all. Sadly, the couple’s romance ended with the proverbial “Till death do us part” on January 20, 2022 when Zexie Manatsa succumbed to cancer.
When I visited her soon after the news, she told me how surreal it was to hear her husband being referred to as “The body”.
According to a Zimbabwean theory, couples who are close to each other will not last long apart. It is believed that if one passes on, the other part follows soon. This is exactly what happened! Just eight months after her husband Zexie passed away, Stella peacefully followed suit on August 30.
Clive “Mono” Mukundu is a Zimbabwean music producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and author.
