Zimbabwe Township Music

Zimbabwe Township Music is a celebration of age-old popular music, which was evolved by the early urban settlers as far back as the 1930’s. Urban culture in those days was a product of mixed traditional, contemporary and Western influences, which all moulded into the unique township music. It is therefore the musical off-spring and melodic fusion of several tribal and cultural urban settlers in the early Black townships; typified by such variants as kwe la, tsabatsaba, marabiand afro-jazz.Township Music often became a symbol of identity and dissent in the Black townships, which did not go so well with the authorities of the day. As the political situation became tense, the music went under around 1963, when the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland came to an end. At Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, Township Music resurfaced and trickled slowly back into the country, to a much awaited reception and revival. Today the Township Music craze is gripping the country, drawing even youthful enthusiasts in its wake. It would be painstaking to list the numerous pace-setters along the milestones of this musical odyssey. It suffices to mention only a representative few: Josaya Hadebe, Kenneth and Lina Mattaka, Evelyn and Simon Juba, Augustine Musarurwa, Moses Mphahlo-Mafuruse, Sonny Sondo, Simanga Tutani, John White, Andrew Chakanyuka, Dorothy Masuka, Faith Dauti, Paul Lunga, Tanga wekwa Sando, Prudence Katomeni Mbofana and Duduzile Manhenga.