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Willo goes solo, credits Ngwazi

Life & Style
RISING sungura artiste Willard “Willo” Munemo  has hailed his former paymaster Mark Ngwazi for his wisdom as he pursues a solo career after forming his Vakiridzo Express band.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

RISING sungura artiste Willard “Willo” Munemo  has hailed his former paymaster Mark Ngwazi for his wisdom as he pursues a solo career after forming his Vakiridzo Express band.

The former Ngwazi backing vocalist and dancer, has since released his debut five-track album titled Chikumbiro with the title track and Ndezvemeso receiving airplay on local radio stations.

In an interview with NewsDay Life & Style, Willo, who spent over a year under the stewardship of Ngwazi, described his stay at Njanja Express band as priceless opportunity.

“It has been my dream one day to lead my band, but with a strong foundation. So I had to start from somewhere and I was lucky to be under the mentorship of such a great artiste and my brother in music Mark Ngwazi,” he said.

“When I decided to turn professional, I wanted to work with someone who had travelled the musical path before such that I would be able to learn a lot of musical and life lessons that could help to shape my career.”

The Chivhu-bred singer, said working with Ngwazi opened his mind in terms of song writing and how to take the right path in the competitive showbiz industry.

“I started music when I was at Gandami Secondary School in Chivhu. I got inspiration from the sungura godfather Nicholas ‘Madzibaba’ Zakaria, whom I also consider as my mentor,” he said.

“Forming Vakiridzo Express band, I am not up for competition with anyone, but to fulfil my dream in music.”

He said he was using limited resources received from his family and friends.

“The journey of an up-and-coming artiste is not that easy as there are a lot of challenges faced to sustain the band. I pray for financial support from well-wishers so that I can be able to buy my own instruments, which makes it easy for rehearsal as studio fees are a challenge,” he said.

Willo said though devastating, the COVID-19-induced lockdown had given him more time to be creative and perfect his forthcoming singles.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is devastating. It is such a difficult time, but there is nothing we can do than to follow gazetted measures to save our lives. To this effect, I have been concentrating on composing more songs and soon will be dropping some singles,” he said.

“My compositions are inspired by societal issues that shape our ubuntu/hunhu, basically inspired by the social experiences that people go through in their day-to-day lives.”

Willo has, however, bemoaned the effects of piracy and hoped that government would continue to look into the issue seriously.

“Stiffer penalties should be given to those caught promoting piracy, which robs us of the opportunity to earn a better living as artistes,” he said.

“Those who want copies of my music can directly contact me since I am self-marketing the album. We are working towards releasing the video for the song Chikumbiro so that fans can enjoy our music in the comfort of their homes.”

Besides Chikumbiro and Ndezvemeso, other songs on his album are Chikuru Rudo, Chimwe Nechimwe and Kugarisana.

The album was recorded at Truetone Studio in Harare.

  • Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto