THE APPEAL IN A SONG

THERE are things that make a song appeal to foreigners who do not understand the language used. When I was touring the world with Tuku and Chiwoniso, my favorite pastime was to watch as many bands as possible at international foreign festivals. I would study a number of things, including how bands from Africa who never sang in English, including the bands I was in, won the hearts of foreign audiences who did not understand their language.

ORIGINALITY OF SOUND

About 99 percent of bands that tour the world playing to foreign audiences play a sound that is originally from where they come from. All the Rhumba bands I saw touring were from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). All reggae bands were from Jamaica. If you look at the list of local artists and bands that made a mark, or are still making a mark, in foreign lands while playing to non-Shona and Ndebele-speaking crowds, they play a true Zimbabwean sound. (Of course here and there we read in the media about Zimbabwean artists who play certain foreign genres of music who ‘tour the world’, but the truth of the matter is, they’ll be playing to Zimbabweans abroad. They never go to areas like France, Germany, and Finland, where you don’t find many Zimbabweans. Their audiences will be 100 percent Zimbabweans, so I can’t really categorize them as artists who play to international audiences.)

GROOVE

Another element that makes a type of music appeal to foreign audiences is the groove. Every country has its own groove. There is a unique groove in our original traditional music that foreigners find appealing and irresistible. But what is a groove? A groove is the aspect of music that makes one want to move, dance, or “groove”. Some describe it as an understanding of rhythmic patterns or a “feel” that sets in motion dancing or foot-tapping on the part of listeners. Remember how we want to dance when we hear Koffi Olomide’s music and yet we do not understand a word he sings? The element of his music that makes us want to dance is what is called the groove. Africa is a groovy continent, so one element that will make your music appealing to foreigners is a creative original groove.

LANGUAGE TONALITY AND RHYTHMS

Every language has its own rhythms and tonality. If you take a song sung in Shona and give the same song to someone from the DRC to sing in Lingala or from Nigeria to sing in Yoruba or the Nigerian Pidgin English, certain aspects of the melody and rhythms of the song will change because every language has certain ways that affect melodies and rhythms.

This uniqueness in every language is also interesting when you listen to someone sing in a foreign language. When people who do not speak Shona or Ndebele hear us sing, they hear certain rhythms that are so unique and interesting. If we sing in English, trying to sound American, those aspects of tonality and rhythm are totally lost. Our problem is that we always look down upon ourselves and end up not noticing the gold that we will be sitting on.

Most young people dream of becoming international artists and yet avoid local styles of music when these are what appeals to foreign audiences. Mokoomba was voted number 3 in Africa on the BBC charts in 2013.

Of course, marketing is important, but before you think of getting a good manager and applying marketing skills, get the music right, and do not be ashamed of your Zimbabwean sound.

MAKE MUSIC FOR YOUR HOME CROWD FIRST

I have also observed that worldwide, artists who put their national music interests first, those that create music with their home fans in mind, are the ones who make it every time.

When American musicians create music, they will largely be thinking about their home fans. If the local fans love and support the music, it will spill over onto the international scene. Americans do not really need Zimbabwean fans or any other support from elsewhere. The support they get on home ground is enough. Support from elsewhere is simply a bonus. You might start by getting a bit of foreign support but it is very difficult for that support base to sustain you.

When Bob Marley and the Wailers started, Chris Blackwell wanted them to appeal to white audiences so he wanted to sell them as a black rock band, but they refused and played music that appealed to Jamaicans, with messages that were relevant to Jamaica, and when they were accepted at home, they were on the path to international stardom.

It is simple to sell an artiste internationally if they have a label that says, “S/he is the biggest thing in a country of origin.” It is very appealing and it shows there is something special about you.

Now I noticed that most youngsters in Zimbabwe start music with other countries’ audiences in mind, thinking of everybody else but their own country, with the reason “I want to be international”. As a result, they do not get much support from home, which eventually cripples their effort of going further.

FRESH IDEAS FROM THE YOUNGER GENERATION

If you listen to modern Rock music, it is not the same Rock sound of the 1960s and 1970s. What happens is that in every generation that comes, the younger generation contributes its own fresh and new ideas and the music evolves.

The same applies to Reggae. The Dancehall music that King Yellowman did in his prime and what the younger generation is now doing is different. It is because the younger generation is contributing fresh ideas to the music. Instead of abandoning it for lack of “swag”, they are injecting “swag” into the music. The same thing is happening to DRC Rhumba. The way the great Franco played and the way Koffi Olomide, Fali Ipupa, and the new generation play is different.

Now in Zimbabwe the majority of young musicians instead of improving our music run away from it and copy what others have worked hard to improve and leave the job to a handful.

One time when I was on tour in Germany with Chiwoniso, we shared the stage with a Rap band from West Africa. They were using the Kora, a West African traditional instrument, just like Mbira is to Zimbabwe. Because their Rap music had a different beat, their sound was appealing to westerners because doing Rap over a beat that sounds like Dr. Dre’s will not get you far because the promoters there will tell you they have all that. They want something different. So, to the emerging youngsters, we are banking on you. You are the ones with fresh minds. We need that “swag” even in Sungura.

From the book following the melody chapter 10.

Author: Clive” Mono” Mukundu, Edited by Philip Chidavaenzi

Monolio publications, Harare, Zimbabwe 2018