Sulumane offers to groom Tongai Moyo son

By Ruth Butaumocho

One of Zimbabwe’s prolific dendera musicians, Sulumane Chimbetu will tomorrow night hold a commemorative show in honour of the late sungura icon Tongai Moyo.

Tongai, who was known by his legions of fans as Dhewa, died in Harare last Saturday after a long battle with cancer and was buried at his rural home in Sesombe, Zhombe on Tuesday.

Sulumane’s show would be held at Hwenje’s Village in Glen Norah B, and coincidentally the show will also mark the official opening of the joint, located at Pafatso’s Area. Upcoming jazz crooner, Jean Masters and the Real Sounds would be the supporting acts at the show that is expected to bring together both his fans and Dhewa’s.

Orchestra Dendera Kings band manager, Knowledge Nkoma, said Sulumane, wanted to take advantage of Dhewa’s commemorative show to introduce Peter to music fans. “Following the good relations that Sulu and Dhewa had, he wants groom Dhewa’s son, Peter, who I believe has shown interest and passion to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“Sulu is quite appreciative of the assistance that he got from several musicians and promoters alike, when his father passed on and he wants to extend the same assistance to several sons and daughters of music legends, who need mentoring,” said Nkoma. Giving an example of Jean, Nkoma said the diva has proved to be talented and knows her stuff, but she needed guidance in a lot of areas, that include organising a show, band management, branding the product and even stage performances.

“We have since started working on a similar project for Peter so that he can easily start from where his father left. Of course, the whole mentoring exercise will not yield instant results, but we are willing to go at the pace, which we feel, will benefit him,” he said. Nkoma also revealed that mentoring Peter and other upcoming musicians would not be a one off event, but would be an intense project that will also include countrywide tours.

“We feel with the experience that we now have, we can now teach them a thing or two about the arts industry in Zimbabwe, especially in music. Looking at Sulu’s tight weekend diary, there is no doubt that the youngsters will certainly go through the paces at a much faster rate, than what they had anticipated.

After the show at Hwenje’s, Sulumane will take his act to Sports Diner International on Saturday night for yet another night of dendera music. He will end his whirlwind city tour in style at the Hangover joint located in Chitungwiza on Sunday night.