The Bhundu Boys Story: Rise Kagona (Part 2)

Part Two: Rise Kagona: Leader of the Pack– Before Bhundu Boys (BBB)

Written by: A.A.V. AMASI

Why did you know not record Shona Songs then?

The problem with local music was that you could not record it anyway; the Rhodesians did not like our music. They used to think that we were politically talking about them in our language. The desire to play our own Africa music was there, but they was a lot of racism and we were not yet mature enough to write meaningful Shona songs.

They were musicians like Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and Zexie Manatsa who were mature enough to write political underground songs that only us black people understood as Chimurenga Songs.  We started to copy their songs instead of the western music that we had been playing.

If the music was not recorded or played on the Radio, how did you learn to play this type of music?

We were very young and not allowed into Beer Halls, we used to sneak in to watch local Bands and copy the chords they were playing.  When we became confident enough, we would scrounge around for coins to buy the Musicians Opaque Beer.  Whilst they were drinking we would go on stage and play their session, we also had to bribe the police because obviously we were not allowed in the Bar. It became a weekend hobby but it was something that was in us and we were looking for a path to becoming professional musicians.  The talent was there; it was just a matter of finding people to invest in us by giving us instruments.

What Obstacles did you face in your pursuit of becoming a Professional Musician?

They were some obstacles, especially the parents because no parent wanted their child to be a musician. My Parents understood Musicians to be unpaid storytellers with a Guitar, so naturally they looked down upon musicians.

Back in those days most parents wanted their child to go to school and become something respectable like a Doctor, Lawyer or work in the office something that would benefit the family in the long run.

What would have happened if they had found out?

Oh my God, if they found out you were playing the Guitar in Bars?  We had to do it far away from home. My parents were Seven Day Adventist Christians; every Saturday we had to go to Church, if you did not go to Church there was no food for you. The Music we did it far away from our parents and the only people that knew about us playing the Guitar were local boys who would talk about us.  After a while our fame travelled through the Township and then you start-getting attention from girls. At that point we thought it’s better if we do a show because we now had a bit of experience.

How did you go about setting that up?

Our local Municipality had given us authority to run Youth Clubs in our neighborhood. The Council had decided to stop funding these clubs and instead have a Committee to raise Funds within the community. I appointed myself the Treasurer and my friend bass player Washington Kavhai as the Chairman.

The bottom line is that the two of us were running the whole show; we would raise money to buy Football and Tennis equipment for the local boys and girls to entertain themselves.  We also had free access to the main Hall in the Township and one of the ways that we raised money was to book Bands in this Hall by taking a percentage of the door takings.

We did that mostly after School and during holidays, it taught us how to be self-sufficient. Most New Year’s Eve we would book local Bands such as IQ and Doctor Footswitch at the Hall, but the New Year’s Eve of 1977, we decided not to book any Bands.

Why?

We did not want them to come because we wanted to book our Band instead. The only problem with New Year’s Eve events was that they were a lot of violence. Gangs from Mbare would come to terrorize the gangs of Mufakose, Highfields and even Kambuzuma.

It was just rife with Gangs; I was part of these Gangs as well when I was growing up. In my Township we would stand our ground and refuse for our territory to be taken over. In that environment you had to learn to be really tough. After we had booked the hall that was actually our first time to hold and play electric guitars.

Before then you had never played Electric Guitars?

Yes and Band members were fearful that the audience would throw bottles at us and violence would erupt. Getting beaten up was a possibility because people used to get beat up. When we put posters all over the township, people would say, “What Band is playing?” “Who are the Wild Dragons?” They didn’t know who the Wild Dragons are.

Were you not afraid that People might not turn up?

That was the main hall in the whole Township. I was like “Okay, fine – they don’t know who we are, but they will still fill up the Hall because they don’t have anyway else to go’’.  I was also confident because people had seen us play on the streets, you know on top of drains pipes and they knew our names.

The other problem that we had is that when we told Kizito Mahoyo, who was providing us with the equipment, the old man hesitated, he said ‘If violence breaks out and my instruments are destroyed, these are kids, where would I get my money back if that happened?’

To convince him we would go to his house every morning before he went to work, whilst he was still in his pajamas. Everyday, we would beg him until he gave in and was forced to say “You can have the equipment after the Bar closes at ten (That’s 10PM) and take them into Rutendo Hall”. The Bar was next to the Hall; we figured we could get wheelbarrows to transport the equipment. And back in those days, Guys in the neighborhood didn’t mind helping out.

Wow that is what you call determination, what happened then?

The Challenge that we had was that New Year’s Eve gigs went from six to six (6 am to 6pm), the Bar where we were going to pick up the equipment closed at ten-thirty pm. If people didn’t hear guitars playing in the hall between six and ten thirty in the Hall, they would assume nothing is happening. We decided to take the instruments earlier, we had to beg the Old Man again to give us the instruments earlier; finally we shifted them into the hall between eight and nine.

Once we set the instruments down, we went about finding Guys to mane the door, we found guys that we were good at fighting and told them “Stand There”. We played from ten to six with fist fights raining all over the place; I was like to the Band “As long as it does not touch as, we are okay”.

The Old Man came at midnight to see if his instruments were still okay, he saw the Hall packed and he started dancing as well. He was very pleased, the next day when we took the instruments back. We were surprised that we had made a couple of thousands, so we also took the money that we had made to impress him.

We offered to pay the Old Man a hire charge, he refused  “No No, I am not taking any penny from you, you did very well as long as my instruments are there, I have seen them, they are intact. Divide the money amongst yourselves” And “ The other thing I want to do for you youngsters, I am opening a nightclub in town called Bonanza, I want you to be my House Band”

Watch out for Part 3 tomorrow

A.A.V. Amasi is a Barchester Scholar at the National Film And Television School. His contact details are [email protected] or http://www.chauya-chauya.co.uk