UNITED STATES-BASED singer Nyani Patient Bote has released a seven track album titled Ngatifare.
Report by Silence Charumbira
Recorded in the US, the album is packed with a great sound quality that puts it a cut above most.
Bote was born and bred in Mbare.
He saw music as an obvious career path for him to follow.
But just like any child from an ambitious family, he had to put aside the dream of a professional music course and end up studying auto electrics and later working for the City of Harare.
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What kept urging him on was his role at church where he played the trombone and second trumpet for the Salvation Army Mbare Corps.
The influence is evident today in the use of horn instruments on Ngatifare.
The album is a blend of various sounds with Afro-jazz dominant.
“I have played in Zimbabwe before helping the late Kenny Marozva of Akwaba band. My first live performance was at the annual Jazz Festival in 1998 facilitated by Sam Mataure,” Bote said.
“I also played at the then Sheraton Aviators restaurant and the Londoners featuring as a backing vocalist and trombone and trumpet player.”
Bote said whenever he thinks of music the fever of the late ’70s and ’80s gripped him.
“The Harare Music Festival fever of the ’70s and early ’80s that produced bands like the original Pied Pipers, Dr Footswitch, Wells Fargo, Darma, Sub, Unity and many others is still vibrant in me,” Bote said.
“The variety of genres made me appreciate the different artistes that were there and today it pains me when I hear fanatics comparing Oliver Mtukudzi and Thomas Mapfumo when we have both to enjoy. Music is not competition. Diversity adds up to variety.”
He said other influences to his music were Ray Phiri, Stimela and Sankomota, among many others.
Bote has been in the United States for the past 12 years.
He has worked with different multicultural musical groups like Matimba, an ensemble that played to raise funds for Aids-affected people in Southern Africa.
He currently plays with Woza Moya, a band which has four Americans.
The band also includes two South African females who assist him on vocals.
Bote says he was impressed with the level of development that Zimbabwean music had achieved.
He, however, anticipates a more realistic approach to mentoring at grassroots levels.
“More talent will be discovered with proper music programmes in the communities,” he said.
“Musical instruments and teachers should be provided in every school. Churches have played their part in providing most of the musicians we have today.
“More should be done as well to make sure that arts projects like theatre — such as Cont Mhlanga’s Amakhosi — get funding from the system and every town should have such structures.”
He bemoaned the levels of piracy and suggested that stiffer penalties should be imposed.
Piracy is a virus that should be punished with harsh penalty.
“Music is an art that shapes our communities. It affects people’s behaviour, especially youths. We can never benefit fully from perceiving music only as a source of entertainment. What do you get from that?”
The dominant theme of his music centres on the ordinary African home where in Ngatifare, he preaches of the joy of reunion after one has left their home into the Diaspora.
On Vatete he reprimands relatives from wealthy family members that look down upon others.
He goes further with the song Itsotsi which cautions young people in society to heed advice given by adults.
Kusarima urges people to work while Mwana wemudondo tells the less fortunate not to blame everyone for their situations.
Maramba doro is the typical “Johnny be good” song urging drinkers to behave.
Nyika Yakanaka is a hymn that takes a look at the world and its various problems.