BY MOSES MUGUGUNYEKI
AFRO-FUSION musician Sasha “Amadhuve” Lishomwa claims that one of her songs she wanted to release two years ago predicted that the world would suffer from “great disasters”.
She said the COVID-19 pandemic could have been foretold in the song titled Machinda.
The musician, who is a protégé and niece of the late mbira musician Edna Chizema, aka Mbuya Madhuve, said it was unfortunate that the song Machinda could not be released as scheduled due “to circumstances beyond her control”.
However, she managed to release the song in October last year.
“The song Machinda was inspired by a dream I had, where I was walking through dead bodies in a scary forest. This song could have hit the market around September 2019 well before the COVID-19 pandemic,” Amadhuve Sasha told NewsDay Life & Style.
“When I composed the song some two years ago, COVID-19 was not in existence and life was normal then. However, today we are expected to stay indoors and abandon our work for our own safety.”
“In the song, I talk about sango [forest] referring to the daily hustles. The fact that we go out to meet challenges with the expectation of winning is what is referred to as sango.”
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She added: “During ancient times, the livelihood of man was sustained in the forest where he would gather fruits and kill animals for meat for his family. I sing ‘sango randiremera’ meaning our day-to-day hustle has been affected very much by the pandemic.”
She said the most emotional line where she sings “verudzi rwangu vapera senyama iripamutariro” describes how people are dying in numbers.
“The way I call out to authorities, our ancestors and God make my tears fall. We have become so powerless because the fight is so complicated and there is no one behind the gun, but it’s striking lethally,” Amadhuve said.
“How do we fight back to stop this pandemic. To most of us in Africa, we survive from hand to mouth, it’s another pandemic. We can’t go to work, yet we have nothing to eat too.”
Amadhuve Sasha, a backing vocalist and dancer of Progress Chipfumo’s Sounds of Motherland outfit, is renowned for her traditional beats fused with contemporary instruments and she also plays mbira.
She said her new album was ready, but she was being restricted by COVID-19 regulations.
“The music industry, like any other sector is full of opportunities, it takes the brave at heart to realise and pursue these opportunities,” she said.
“It has never been prohibitive as many imagine, you need to eat, dream, walk and talk music if you want to make it in the industry because everyday thousands of good music are released.”
She said her ambition was to sing life-transforming music at global level.
“I sing to give people hope and inspire every human being,” she said.
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