“WHEN the guitar speaks with traditional memory, even lunch must pause to listen.”
This famous quote came to its realisation last Saturday when SaMasamba ignited Gava’s Restaurant in Belgravia in the capital.
Born Norman Masamba, SaMasamba and his band Point Blank transformed Gava’s Restaurant to a pulsating dance arena.
Diners had their mid-bite into meat and sadza temporarily abandoned as the music demanded bodies, not cutlery.
In Shona parlance, even the jackals stopped gnawing.
This was not background music; it was a call to movement, memory and meaning.
Identified by Music in Africa as an artiste whose work reflects cultural identity, unity, emotion and personal upliftment, SaMasamba’s sound is rooted in deep tradition while confidently facing outwards.
His guitar work, he told NewsDay Life & Style, draws from Zimbabwean traditional melodies fused with modern influences, creating a sonic language that feels both authentic and globally fluent.
The result is music that travels easily, yet never forgets home.
“My style is characterised by an ethnic guitar sound, fusing Zimbabwean traditional rhythms and melodies from mbira, marimba and ngoma with contemporary African fused and international diaspora adopted motifs and themes,” SaMasamba explained.
On stage, those influences converged seamlessly, producing a textured, danceable experience that felt carefully crafted rather than casually assembled.
The audience was as distinguished as the performance.
Renowned musicians Selmor Mtukudzi, Tendai Manatsa, Josh Meck and their families were among the lunchtime crowd, rising from their seats to guide dance movements as SaMasamba delivered crowd favourites such as Unorumwa, Tauya Kuzofara and Zvebasa, alongside select cover versions drawn from the bands he previously worked with.
The inter-generational exchange between performers and patrons reinforced music’s communal role as a shared language.
Underlying the performance was a broader story about how music education and access to quality equipment have elevated Zimbabwean musical production in recent years.
Improved training, exposure to diverse genres and better instruments have enabled artistes like SaMasamba to produce work of refined technical and artistic quality.
Where raw talent once struggled against limitation, today’s musicians increasingly match vision with execution, resulting in performances that can hold their own on any global stage.
SaMasamba’s music consistently carries positive social messaging, celebrating cultural roots and collective upliftment.
This ethos is traceable to a career that began around 2007, shaped by stints with Victor Kunonga, Bob Nyabinde, Chiwoniso Maraire, Oliver Mtukudzi and Hugh Masekela.
These collaborations provided international stage experience and mentorship, helping him to craft a sound that bridges traditional Zimbabwean influences with broader Afrocentric styles.
Launching his solo career around 2015, SaMasamba has since performed at major festivals, including the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, Bergen Arts Festival, Jacaranda Music Festival, Ebubeleni Music Festival, Lake Victoria Arts Festival and the Botswana Cultural Festival.
At Gava’s Restaurant, that global journey was distilled into a local triumph, proving that when tradition is well taught, well equipped and boldly expressed, it can stop time, silence plates and set souls dancing.
It reaffirmed Harare’s enduring appetite for music that educates, unites and excites generations.