Devera Ngwena Jazz Band: Trailblazing but quickly ...

Devera Ngwena Jazz Band: Trailblazing but quickly forgotten

Garikai Mazara

In the aftermath of Mudiwa donating a thousand-dollar suit plus some groceries to Paradzai Mesi, I took to this platform to commit my opinion to the gesture.

Inadvertently, I mentioned Leonard Dembo as the first musician to sell over 100 000 albums. Jonah Moyo, of the Devera Ngwena Jazz Band (can’t really recall if he precisely answered why they called themselves a jazz band when we met in Rhodene, Masvingo, in 2016) was quick to point out that the record of a first 100 000 album sales should stand with him.

A couple of weeks later, discussing Jah Prayzah’s audacious move to release two albums simultaneously, I alluded to Simon Chimbetu and Leonard Dembo having previously achieved that feat - double albums in one year. Insinuation from my post being that Dembo was the first to do this with Sharai and Kuziva Mbuya Huudzwa in 1987.

Very active on social media, Jonah Moyo was, once again, quick to come in and counter that narrative, saying Devera Ngwena released Devera Ngwena 3 & 4 in 1982. Devera Ngwena 3 had Solo naMutsai, which really needs no special introduction. Devera Ngwena 4 had Second Hand, equally a hit on its own.

Quite an irony that Devera Ngwena 4 sold much more than Number 3 which had Solo naMutsai.

But has anyone picked up my observation as yet?

Devera Ngwena is not celebrated enough, is not recognised enough. I remember in that Rhodene interview, Jonah Moyo saying, quite excitedly, that Oliver Mtukudzi used to curtain-raise for Devera Ngwena.

See, it is a long-standing arrangement in the local music landscape, that whoever curtain-raises is the underdog. Reason why you find the tussle between Jah Prayzah and Winky D whenever they share the stage on who should go on stage first. Alick Macheso and Tongai Moyo used to have the same problem as well.

He also mentioned that Proud Chinembiri, christened Kilimanjaro in boxing circles, would not take to the ring without Devera Ngwena providing him, and thousands in attendance, with pre-match entertainment.

Well, that’s to digress a bit. We all seem to have forgotten Devera Ngwena overnight. In Shona, they have a saying to that effect, actually an idiom that mixes yesterday, sleep and amnesia (being forgetful).

When Chibadura, Chimombe, Dembo and Chimbetu came on the scene, we somehow forgot the trailblazing Devera Ngwena Jazz Band.

To put everybody in the picture, in a six-year span from 1980 to 1985, Devera Ngwena released nine albums and 14 singles. Oh yes, those were the days of the seven single.

And mind you, the 14 singles were not included in the albums, they were stand-alone releases. With three songs on either side to make an album, that is like another two albums. So that’s 11 albums in six years!

And they made hit after hit. Solo naMutsai, Second Hand, Wangu P (Jonah Moyo’s dedication to his now late wife), Gremma Wepamoyo, Too Cheap, MaDube, Barbara Mwana Akanaka, Zvokumayadhi, to name just a few.

Quite a force to reckon with on the local scene, Devera Ngwena went on to dominate the South African market (partly the motivation behind him moving to stay in Thohoyandou in the Limpopo province where he has been domiciled for decades now).

Despite selling double platinum in South Africa, Jonah Moyo says they never got any royalties from Gramma Records, though Tusk Records which handled their music that side passed on the money to Zimbabwe.

“When I visited Tusk Records, I was puzzled to see gold discs of Devera Ngwena Volume 1 to 9, adorning the walls of their offices, with sales figures of 200 000.

“I confronted Tony Rivett (now late) about this but I hit a brick wall except to discover that our foreign sales figures were kept locked in a safe and only senior management had access to these figures.”