Do Zimbabweans have a penchant for international music?

So let's make a few things straight before meandering into this. I don't know much about how other countries react to international music. I have stayed for longer than 3 years in only two countries; Zimbabwe and South Africa. Both beautiful countries. Just a gentle reminder to would-be opposers of that notion, beauty is in the eyes of the beholder. Ask political economists, Zimbabwe is beautiful. Ask a political scientist, Zimbabwe is beautiful. We gave those guys so much to do in the past two decades, so yes Zimbabwe is beautiful to them. You can even ask a tourist. The Majestic Victoria Falls. Hwange National Park. Mana Pools. Matusadonha. My beloved Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. The Great Zimbabwe itself. Indeed Zimbabwe is beautiful. Now ask a music fan... I have no idea what they'll tell you.


Our music is diverse. We have many genres, some we invented, some we adopted and modified whilst others we just copied from elsewhere. It's all good. So with that musical diversity, one would expect our music to be everywhere in the world. Is that how it is now? I don't know. But a few years ago when I was in the Far East with a good Ugandan friend, I tried playing him some Zimbabwean music. He confessed that he had no idea of what I was playing. We then ventured into a discussion about African music in general. He didn't know much outside Uganda because, he said, "your music was rarely played anywhere". I told him about Batswana music, which was being played everywhere in Zimbabwe then, I told him of Rhumba, Kanindo, Soukous, House, and Kwaito. I even mentioned Zambia urban music and Mozambique's Passada. He was impressed and thought I am a musical genius of some sort. I told him nope, I was just exposed to this - effortlessly -  in the streets and villages of Zimbabwe. I told him if he was to pick any Zimbabwean, there was high probability that they would tell him exactly the same or even more than what I had told him. He was surprised. One and half years after this, I moved to South Africa. I stayed in SA long enough to even pick favourite radio stations. South Africa reminded me of my Ugandan friend. Those who were somewhat familiar with 'our' music knew only Oliver Mtukudzi. A very close colleague, who is now late - (may his soul rest in peace) -  used to talk of good stuff about Tuku and his music. But I suspected he only knew one song, Neria, because that's the only Tuku song he used to play in the car on our way to the field for data collection. There was nothing much on the radio either.

In contrast, music from elsewhere is everywhere in Zimbabwe. Recently Nigerian music has proliferated. So many songs and so many artists. Although we don't know what the lyrics mean, we still dance. That's us. The radio tried to 'correct the anomaly' by implementing 'local content' which was (is) near absolute. But that 'didn't work' since people can still access the music through other means and sources - we are in the digital era. What does that mean? I don't know... But I think it somehow reflects on our penchant for international music. I think - without any supporting data - that such appetite is unrivaled in the region.

Remy Sahlomon/ Youtube Photo