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Chagumuka promises richer offering

Life & Style
ITALY-BASED traditional Zimbabwean musician Hendrix Chagumuka is set to release his third album, Gorekore, on a local radio station on May 30 as he continues to uphold his father Robbie “Mwachewe” Chagumuka’s legacy.

BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

ITALY-BASED traditional Zimbabwean musician Hendrix Chagumuka is set to release his third album, Gorekore, on a local radio station on May 30 as he continues to uphold his father Robbie “Mwachewe” Chagumuka’s legacy.

Chagumuka told NewsDay Life & Style that preparations for the launch were at an advanced stage, and his fans should expect a richer offering as he had roped in some veterans who were part of his late father’s band.

“By this weekend, we should be done. I feel like this time it’s (the album) a bit richer than before because we took our time in preparing, and I had to gather around some of the members of my late father’s band. Those are veterans with experience,” he said.

“Having old members of The Black Heroes has made this album richer in terms of quality. My writing too has improved. I admit that I’m growing, still young in this industry, but this album will take us to another level.”

The younger Chagumuka said the album was recorded at Track Records under Spencer Masango’s watch.

He said fans had been waiting for the new album for a long time and promised at least one video from the album by end of June.

“But definitely we are going to have more videos on this album than before,” he said.

The musician capitalised on technology which allowed him to write and record vocals in Italy before sending them to Masango using online platforms like WhatsApp and email.

He said he did the same on his previous album as his guitarist worked from the United States, while he was in Italy and the producer in Zimbabwe.

Chagumuka said he received positive feedback from fans on his last album and even had some promoters calling to see if they could strike a deal with him.

He, however, expressed concern that not enough was being done to keep the mbira music tradition alive in the country as there were hardly any new names in the genre cropping up.

“By now, we could have been hearing new names coming in just like what’s happening in Zimdancehall. The recognised traditional musicians are very few. A lot has to be done,” he said.

Chagumuka said he had been capitalising on festivals in Italy to showcase his music and was currently working with an Italian producer on a number of tracks in English, set to be released as singles onto the Italian market.