Chinx nephew God Knows Talks Marley and a Family o...

Chinx nephew God Knows Talks Marley and a Family of Heroes

Music seems to run in the blood as shown by the achievements by the late Dick “Cde Chinx” Chingaira and now, his hip hop crooner nephew God Knows.

“That day, Bob Marley made a point of going to see my uncle and told him, ‘I know all about you and your grandfather. Will you come and open for me?’ Of course, he said ‘Yes!’ says God Knows.

God Knows, whose uncle is the late Cde Chinx recently granted an interview to British journalist Stuart Clark to discuss his hip-hop musical project and the motivation he got from Marley that inspired him to release a new summer banger titled “Twelve 61”.

“To celebrate Independence Day in 1980, Bob Marley headlined a massive concert in Harare where he played a specially commissioned song, ‘Zimbabwe’, which was later sampled by Akon on ‘Don’t Matter’,” God Knows told Clark.

“Twelve 61”echoes his late maternal uncle, Dick Chinx Chingaira, who was a hero of the Zimbabwean revolution and features a guest appearance by Zimbabwean dancehall star Jah Master who is his cousin on his father’s side. It was produced by his younger brother, Godwin Jonas.

“I come from a rich line of fighters. My uncle’s grandfather, Chief Makoni, was the first Shona-speaking Zimbabwean chief to stand up to the colonisers in the late 1800s. Of course, they retaliated with guns and mass killings. They took his skull back to England to examine because he was the only one to resist in that way. Despite being asked for its return, it’s still in the National History Museum in London.”

Around 1964 during the second Chimurenga, his uncle joined the Army Youth Choir where, as Comrade Chinx, he was responsible for such songs as ‘Africa’, ‘Hondo Yeminda’ and ‘Mabhunu’.

“The song he made super-famous, which I sample, ‘Twelve 61’, was chanted when they went into battle. By the time the war was won and he left the army he was a national hero himself.”

God Knows says he is a product of a eclectic music consumption background.

“I grew up in a house where reggae, dub, dancehall and jazz – albeit done the African way with bits added and subtracted – was played.

“I didn’t think in terms of genres, it was all just music that seeped into my head. My music now is a continuation of that.”

God Knows has been riding high. It’s been a busy summer for God Knows and his Narolane pals Denise Chaila and MuRli who operate as both an Odd Future-style collective and as separate artist entities. First there were stadium shows with Ed Sheeran followed by an Ed remix; Denise playing a Glastonbury set that was cherry-picked by the BBC for its festival coverage; and a turn at the party thrown for the All Ireland-winning Limerick hurlers. MuRli’s already told us about their close encounters of the Sheeran kind, so let’s focus on Glasto.

“It felt like the culmination of several things we’ve been working on for the past two years,” G notes. “I’d like to acknowledge, if I may, our wonderful booking agent, Sophie Roberts, who’s gone above and beyond in getting us gigs like this. She’d know a lot of the key BBC DJs like Jack Saunders who’s been gushing about Denise on his Future Artists show. His producer moved over to BBC Introducing, the curators of the stage we were on at Glastonbury, so it was one thing leading to another.

“Then, on the TV side, we’ve had Pippa Evers who also looks after Take That and Pharell Williams trying to get us on Later With Jools Holland, which is inevitably where Denise is going. The gigs that the Jools team had wanted to come and see her at were for various reasons cancelled, so they booked Denise for the televised Treehouse Sessions at Glastonbury, which they also look after.”