Thomas Mapfumo

School / Education

Primary: In Marondera, he attended Chiwonana School.^[3]
After moving from Marondera to Mabvuku, Thomas continued his primary education at Donnybrook School in the then Salisbury. He later moved to Mbare.

Mapfumo was Honoured with the with a Master's Degree in Music from the University of Zimbabwe. In January 2001 he received an honorary doctorate degree by Ohio State University (USA).^[4]

Service/Career

Early Music

Mapfumo said he got his first break to perform music with a quartet called Zoot Brothers (called Zutu in other reports) in Mabvuku while he was still in School. After hearing the Beatles and Wilson Pickett in the early '60s, Mapfumo taught himself guitar. But he also sang songs from African countries such as style known as Rhumba from the then Zaire. ^[2][5]

In Mbare, Mapfumo was trained by Kenneth Mataka, Laina Mataka and their son, Edison Mataka whom Mapfumo described later as a "great musician".^[3] According to Laina, Mapfumo had tried music with the Zutu Brothers but failed before he approached them for help in 1962. ^[6]

He joined the Mataka family (Father, Mother and Son) to become the Cosmic Four Dots. They played rock and roll music after Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Mapfumo moved onto the Springfields in 1966 with which he recorded songs at the then Rhodesian Broadcasting Corporation until 1973 when Daram Karanga headhunted him for the formation of the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band in Mhangura. It was with the Hallelujah Chicken Run band where his traditional style became real traditional by the inclusion of guitars that produced mbira sounds. ^[6]

When he left Mhangura, Mapfumo had no band and would hang around until he met the late Jonah Sithole at Jamaica Inn. Jonah was leading the Drifters, a band he had brought from Mutare in 1974. The band had changed its name from Pepsi Combo to Vibrations and the Drifters. Eventually, they formed The Black Spirits together with Jonah Sithole. ^[6] But the Black Spirits was to be disbanded and the Acid Band formed without Sithole.

The Acid Band itself was short-lived and gave way to a Blacks Unlimited again with Sithole in 1978. Their first album as Blacks Unlimited was Gwindigwi Rineshumba (There Are Lions In This Wilderness). Mapfumo worked with the Blacks Unlimited band to date. He developed his mbira pop sound with guitarists Jonah Sithole and Leonard “Picket” Chiyangwa, bassist Charles Makokova, and others. Mapfumo’s lyrics reflected the concerns of the people around him such as the hardships of rural life, young men heading to the bush to fight, and a rising sense of indignation at white rulers who had systematically devalued Shona culture for four generations. ^[2]

The guerrilla fighters had taken the name “Chimurenga”, Shona for “struggle”, and Mapfumo decided to call his new sound “Chimurenga music”. Chimurenga songs captured the imaginations of black people at that time. Mapfumo dedicated most of his songs to the fight of the Liberation struggle (Second Chimurenga). ^[2]

Mapfumo's music and its popularity with black people led to tensions with the white government and in 1977 was sent to prison for subversion. To obtain his release, Mapfumo is said to have agreed to perform for the white government, but at the concert, he sang only his most revolutionary songs and said later:

"I told them that since I'd been in detention, I didn't have time to write new ones." ^[5]

Chimurenga music after Zimbabwe's Independence

At the attainment of Zimbabwe's independence in 1980, Mapfumo's group shared the stage with Bob Marley and the Wailers at the national celebration of Zimbabwean independence. That concert is credited with the transition from a local musician to an international one, as he landed some international recording contracts.^[2]

In 1987 Mapfumo performed with Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen at the 1987 Human Rights Concert in Harare, Zimbabwe. ^[7] Thomas Mapfumo toured worldwide mostly USA and UK. In 1989 when he saw the new black political leaders as not serving the people, he started penning songs that opposed them. He warned young people not to let themselves be used by dirty politicians and in that year released the album Corruption.^[2] Throughout the 90s and 2000s Mapfumo continued to pen and sing some anti-government songs releasing such albums as Chimurenga '98, Chimurenga Explosion , Toi Toi (Thomas Mapfumo album) | Toi Toi and Chimurenga Rebel Manhungetunge1. The album Chimurenga Explosion, for example, which was released in 2000, had the following songs: Musanyepere (translated, "Don't Lie"), Mamvemve (translated, "Tatters"), Disaster, and Nhamo Zvakare (translated, "Back to poverty"), among others.

2001 Self Imposed Exile to the USA

Mapfumo was the resident musician at Club HideOut 99 just before 2000 when Mapfumo moved his family to the United States on self-imposed Exile claiming that his life was in danger from the ruling political party, ZANU PF.^[2] Writers at government-owned newspapers, especially The Herald, however, dismissed his claims as exaggerated and that he was not under threat as he would come to Zimbabwe annually for shows from 2001 until 2005 when he stopped. Mapfumo was linked to an auto-theft ring and police said that they would pick him up for an unclosed docket involving allegedly stolen cars.^[6]

In 2012 he reportedly told the UK based New Zimbabwe blog that he would not return to Zimbabwe because he did not want to live in a country in which he's rich in a sea of poverty. He also said he didn't want to ask people who are struggling to just get by to pay to watch him sing. Mapfumo said his return to Zimbabwe was unlikely with the former President Robert Mugabe still in charge. ^[8]

On 4 October 2022, the permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services, Nick Mangwana said self-exiled Chimurenga musician Thomas Mukanya Mapfumo is free to come to Zimbabwe. Mapfumo, a staunch government critic, left the country in 2001 following persecution by the Robert Mugabe-led regime. He did not want to return to attend the funeral of his brother and band percussionist, Lancelot Mapfumo who died in September 2022, afraid that the government would harm him. ^[9]

Events

2018 Return to Zimbabwe

In 2018 it was reported that Thomas Mapfumo was coming to perform to Zimbabwe. The show was scheduled for Aprill 28, 2018 at the Glamis Arena.

Zimbabwe Peace Tour

Thomas ‘Mukanya’ Mapfumo was expected back in December 2018 to perform in several cities and towns. Mukanya’s Peace Tour was expected to see him perform at Gweru Golf Club on 7 December 2018. After the Gweru show, Mapfumo was also expected to perform in Bulawayo at the Large City Hall on 8 December 2018. A week later Mapfumo was to perform at Pagomba Café in Beitbridge. On 15 December 2018 he would perform at Caravan Park in Masvingo then at Golden Peacock in Mutare on 21 December followed by Kadoma on 22 December at Odyssey. ^[10]

Retirement

Mapfumo played his final gig in Leicester, England in July 2023, not in his homeland of Zimbabwe, after spending years in self-imposed exile in the United States of America.^[11]

Videos

Discography

1. 1978 Hokoyo
2. 1980 Gwindingwi Rine Shumba
3. 1984 Ndangariro
4. 1984 Mabasa
5. 1984 Chimurenga Singles
6. 1985 Mr. Music
7. 1986 Chimurenga for Justice
8. 1989 Corruption
9. 1991 Spirit of the Eagle
10. 1991 Shumba: Vital Hits of Zimbabwe
11. 1991 Chamunorwa
12. 1994 Vanhu Vatema
13. 1994 Hondo
14. 1995 Chimurenga Forever: The Best of Thomas Mapfumo
15. 1996 The Singles Collection: 1977-1986
16. 1997 Chimurenga: African Spirit Music
17. 1999 Live at El Rey
18. 1999 Chimurenga '98
19. 2000 Chimurenga Explosion
20. 2001 12 from 5: Collection, Vol. 2
21. 2001 12 from 5: Collection, Vol. 1
22. 2001 Dreams & Secrets
23. 2002 Collected Classic Cuts and Rare Tracks
24. 2002 Chimurenga Rebel/Manhungetunge
25. 2002 Toi Toi
26. 2004 Choice Chimurenga
27. 2004 Chaputika/Live in Milton Keynes '04
28. 2005 Spirits to Bite Our Ears: The Singles Collection 1977-1986
29. 2005 Rise Up
30. 2006 Sweet Chimurenga
31. 2006 Zimbabwe Mozambique
32. 2006 Roots Chimurenga
33. 2006 Chimurenga Masterpiece
34. 2006 Chimurenga Movement
35. 2007 The Long Walk
36. 2009 African Classics: Thomas Mapfumo
37. 2010 Exile
38. lacks/Chimurenga Singles Unlimited Ndangariro
39. Mr. Music (Africa)

Picture Gallery

• 

  Mapfumo during his heydays

• 

  Mukanya in the studio

• 

  On Stage

• 

  Thomas Mapfumo and Arthur Mutambara

• 

  Mapfumo with Oliver Mtukudzi

Awards

1. Artist of the Year from the American World Music Awards in 1999
2. Zimbabwe's Person of the Century in the Art's Award in 2000
3. AFIM's Best World Contemporary CD Award in March 2001 for his 2000 release Chimurenga Explosion ^[12]

References