IF there is a man who has managed to put sungura music on oxygen after years in the intensive care unit, with giants like Alick Macheso and Nicholas Zakaria failing to resuscitate the genre through their past offerings, then it is Tatenda Pinjisi (pictured), the man who gave the nation the blockbuster, Saina.
By JAIROS SAUNYAMA
Listening to Pinjisi’s latest offering Chibhakera Chenyasha literally translated as Fist of Grace, sungura’s shelf-life is extended as the musician affectionately known as Spanner Boy took his time to release a platinum album that is powerful enough to keep him on top, as far as the genre is concerned.
The Mutoko-born artiste is back after a two-year sabbatical with the song Dzikirira doing pretty well, thereby, leaving many to conclude that the Sungura Messiah is indeed a man on a mission.
While other sungura artistes are busy mimicking Macheso, especially his outstanding bassline, Pinjisi has come up with his own sound that is characterised by a churning lead guitar that resonates well with a scintillating rhythm guitar melody — his own trademark sound.
Like a musician who did his homework well and spent a fortune of three years in the studio recording the new album, Pinjisi has improved on diversity in his lyrics with the whole album laden with both religious, social and love commentary.
Despite some critics and views that there is not much difference from his debut album Rumbidzo Kumurudzi, Pinjisi has defined himself, as he has fused the sounds of popular outfit RnK African Sounds and Mukoma Ketai’s Kasongo band to give out a refreshing beat that has the ability to dominate the sungura music charts.
On this new offering, launched recently at Dandaro Inn in Harare, the musician increased the running time for some of the songs, going beyond the traditional average of three minutes on the previous album.
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“My latest album has been received well as compared to Rumbidzo Kumusiki, I am even surprised,” said Pinjisi.
The song Pamusoroi is set to be popular with Christians as it tells the story of prayerful Christians demanding back all that the devil had stolen from them.
However, it is the hit track Dzikirira that tells the story of a man celebrating a fruitful affair with a woman he met via Whatsapp.
With others blasting the social media platform for wrecking marriages, Pinjisi gave a refreshing song on someone who wedded a girl he had met via Whatsapp.
The song Mahoi hoi speaks of people celebrating God’s rewards after a period of hard work while the other song, Chikara, offers advice to men not to neglect their families because of the influence of girlfriends.
On this album, the fast-rising musician played the lead guitar with Naison Tembo on the bass guitar, Taruvinga Kamurungu on rhythm, Elisha Victor on drums and Tawanda Mavhura on sub rhythm.
He also engaged the services of a female backing vocalist, Talent Muzhanye, whose input spiced the whole album.
Pinjisi was born on August 7, 1991 in Katsukunya Village in Mutoko and did his early education at Katsukunya Primary.
His music career took off at an early stage when he set his foot in the studio at Grammar Records while doing Form 3. He was an instrumentalist for his brother Howard’s debut album Umbiridzo.
In 2007, he came to Harare and joined Zvishavane Sounds as a rhythm guitarist with Howard in the same ensemble that is led by Gift Amuli.
He left Zvishavane Sounds in February 2013 and became a session artiste with a number of bands.
In 2015, he went solo after setting up his own recording label Super Cream Studios and formed the Holy Super Sounds band.
On December 23, 2015 he released his debut album that made him a household name with the song Saina being the people’s favourite.
With the music industry in Zimbabwe being unpredictable and dynamic, Pinjisi’s latest album can catapult him to another level — but this only depends with the attitude of listeners.
The Fist of Grace is ready to floor any opponents along the way.
