Rise Kagona: Leader of the Pack Biggie Tembo (Part 5)

The following is Part 5 of an interview with Bhundu Boys guitarist Rise Kagona. It has been over twenty-five years since the band took the UK music world by storm, with their Harare sound. Kagona reflects on his musical journey as he speaks to A.A.V. AMASI.

Biggie Tembo: Was he fired or did he quit? 

As a Band, were you open for Biggie to come back?

We had no problems with Biggie, what I would like to say. Let me take it from the top what really happened is we were doing fine and our shows were going well. In the first days it was really hard, coming from the Ghettoes having had no interaction with White people before. When we came here we did not have an understanding of how our music would be received because in Zimbabwe, local White people never attended our shows.

It was like an experiment we said ‘lets just do what we came here to do give it the best that we can’. The first shows were very poor, Doug Veitch (Scottish Folk Musician known as Champion Doug Veitch) and Owen Elias did not have experience in hiring out bands and it was their first time as well. These are guys who had thought of starting a business and they started by selling music from Africa. They were trying to do the best they could but African music was bootlegged here.

Who was bootlegging the music?

I think it could have been our producers in Zimbabwe, because when we came here and realised the severity of the situation. We went back home and told our fellow musicians who were not pleased with that. If you have never travelled and you see Record companies like Gramma, RTP ‘s success, you question yourself is this money just from the Zimbabwean market, its not.

These big companies used to send music here and they would get foreign currency from it. Doug and Owen came up with a plan that they needed to bring an African band to tour here. The idea was that whilst the Band was touring they sell the Band’s albums.

Owen came to Zimbabwe; I think it was his second time from what I gather. He came to collect local music from from Zimbabwean record companies and that is how he met Steve Roskilly, who we were recording with. You know how it is in business White people network with each other and obviously Steve recommended us. 

You say that he left the Band, however most media say that he was fired from the Band.

That’s why I said lets start from the top. Lets talk about that, which is very vital. Now that Biggie’s kids are older. I would like to open up. I would like to open up their hearts. The media at the time said that Biggie Tembo was kicked out of the Band. What actually happened is that when Warner Brothers signed us.

We received some money for every album produced. True Jit was the first one. When the first money came in. We shared the money and a person was given according to your song, which is the writers’ share. They are writers and then royalties, which come to everybody.

Is that within the Band?

No, the actual law says that. If you are a writer you entitled to get a writers share. Royalties are for everybody who contributed to the song. It has always been like that who ever writes a song, gets his writers share. Contribution we all get. When we were signed by Warner Brothers we were given writers money.

As a band leader I have always made sure everyone in the band has equal opportunities. Who ever can come up with a song, we work together. It’s your song it helps the whole Band. That is how we were operating. So when this money came? Some Band members had one or two tracks. That’s what usually happened. Some came with more some with less. On this particular album I had more songs and this did not go down well with Biggie.

If it’s something that normally happens in the Band. What was he not happy with?

I think he didn’t understand because he had come up with a song he had done before. The royalties were not coming to him but the publisher Roskilly. The song was “Jekesa” we did an English version “Come on join hands”. It was a song that was already done and was redone in different mix.

When it came to the distribution of the money, he was not happy when we explained that you cannot get a writers share, for a song that you have already received a writers share for. I got the most money and as a thank you to my fellow Band members. I took ten percent of what I received and gave the Band to share. That was our policy. And as we were progressing, we had more gigs. We went to America.

When you are signed to Warner. They give you the money to publish the music somewhere else. We were published in America and we had to go to America to do shows. I tell you this was the first time in our lives to enjoy the Hollywood lifestyle. I am not bragging about it. It happened, something that we never dreamed of.

We used to see Actors in movies but now we were there. We travelled in limousines; we slept in five star hotels. We were Stars really we were Stars. We went into that lifestyle. I am not bragging about it but surely it one of my biggest moments that I never dreamed about when I was in Harare. We did it. We played with big musicians like Harry Belafonte, recorded with Don Williams. We mixed with Big stars in Hollywood, we ate with Big Stars

Like who?

Dolly Parton, Eddie Murphy, I met Chuck Norris, who was a good Kung Fu fighter. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lou Ferrigno the guy who was the Incredible Hulk. I went into his gym and because of that I go into the gym. I met big stars and they are simple people, different from the way they are portrayed by the media.

They are down to earth musicians and actors who were also so excited to see us. They were talking about coming to Africa. We had a good time, rolling for almost a year. Whilst we were on a high note like that, our Manager Gordon Muir decided to buy a house in London.

Why buy a house in London?

It was a good but very bad idea for us, we queried about it, but he came up with this idea. We should buy a house so that when we are coming from our tour. We come and rest, we are not in a bed and breakfast. Where, we will be given laws “don’t do this”, “don’t bring girls”, “don’t bring friends”, “don’t do that”.

He said we needed our own house so I said to him “Gordon I don’t need a house, I don’t have a house in Harare, the money I had from that album, I bought my parents a house. They cannot die as lodgers. Now is my turn to buy a house and start a family”. He didn’t understand that. All of us were still living with our parents. Only Biggie who didn’t grow up in Harare was a lodger in Harare. I grew up in Harare my parents were in Harare.

I was living with my parents. The idea of buying the house, I said “No, first we are not citizens of this country, if the law changes and they said all the Africans go back home. Are we going to carry this building home? If it’s a car we will ship it” So the Manager says, “You have to understand you are making your lives here.

Everything is happening here so you need a house”. We sat down as a Band and I said to them “Gentleman lets not make this wrong move, this will cost us the rest of our lives. We don’t have houses back home. This is the time to buy homes back home.

We don’t know how long this contract will last” At the meeting we all agreed and I told the Manager “No we are not buying the house, the boys are not interested in buying the house. They want to buy houses back home”. It all went quiet and then he thought of another attack.

What was the other attack?

This time he came through David and Shakie. He took them for a drink, coaxed them and sold the idea to them again and again. What they didn’t realise was that the house would be his. The agreement that we had when we employed him as our Manager was that he takes twenty percent of our earnings.

The money that came from Warner Brothers, he should have just taken his twenty percent and the Band splits the rest. Who wants to buy a house in London? Its up to them, who wants to spend it like water? It’s up to them. He did the sums and realised his twenty percent is not enough to buy a house. Its better I use these dogs. He used his brains.

He started taking guys out for drinks and the worse thing is the house we where in the owner was leaving the country and selling the house. A very big house, ninety-five thousand and he gave us the first option to buy. I refused, Kenny refused, Biggie refused, the other two (David and Shakie) went to the White man’s side. We had another meeting and the two were like “Lets buy a house”, we all knew that they had been manipulated. The Three of us seemed to be jacked up people.

After that, did Gordon try speaking to you?

He tried to say that we were not making money. I said “How can you say we are not making money when the record label is sending us to America” and “If you feel that we are not making enough money, raise our fees. We are making money. All our gigs are packed”.

If you went into the places we played, they were many buses, line after line, after collecting people in different towns. The thing about white people, they don’t like stubborn people. They like easy people. What they did to Lobengula that’s what they did to Biggie.

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