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Chitungwiza Harmony Singers rocked by disharmony

Life & Style
THE harmony within the popular choral music outfit, Chitungwiza Harmony Singers, has been interrupted following serious infighting among members over leadership of the group.

THE harmony within the popular choral music outfit, Chitungwiza Harmony Singers, has been interrupted following serious infighting among members over leadership of the group.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

The award-winning group known for it’s sweet harmonies is said to be teetering on the edge due to the serious infighting, NewsDay can reveal.

It has emerged that some group members are fighting to eject the group’s late founder Israel Dzangare’s children, Molly and Arnold.

Dzangare, who founded the group in 1993, died in 2012 and Arnold subsequently took over as choir director.

“All is not well in the group as moves to purge the founder’s children from the group have intensified. This (yesterday) morning they had a meeting to discuss the way forward on the matter, but there was no consensus,” said the source.

It is understood that the current choirmaster George Tamisai and two other members – Jared Manase Chinhoro and Donovan Jairos – were close allies of the late Dzangare who entrusted them to assist Arnold in running the choir.

“They are now taking advantage of that and want to remove Molly and Arnold from the group, claiming that Israel had handed over the group to them,” another source said.

Contacted for comment, the choir’s spokesperson Peter Thole, however, professed ignorance over the alleged scuffles.

“I am not aware of what you are talking about. Who told you? It is actually news to me,” Thole said.

But NewsDay understands that matters came to a head while the choir was in South Africa for the Old Mutual choral competition in August after a former member of the choir identified as Joseph Mamhare — who is now based in South Africa — confronted Arnold over the group’s leadership.

“Arnold was supposed to conduct the Western song as the choir was to perform one African and one Western song. Joseph and George confronted Arnold before he went on stage and told him they were the owners of the choir since his father was now late,” said the source.

Fears now abound in the band that the infighting was likely to affect the group’s preparations ahead of their performance in a competition scheduled for Bloemfontein, South Africa, in December.

Chitungwiza Harmony Singers has become one of the best choral ensembles in the country. They have participated at the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland, the regional finals of the Old Mutual National Choral Festival in South Africa and the International Choral Festival in the United States of America