One of my most enjoyable chapters in the book is ‘My Musical Journey through Song and Dance’ where I track the development of my taste in music that by the way, still continues relentlessly to this day.
Being an unapologetic fan of the golden oldies,coming to America has enabled me to delve deeper into some of the old rock sounds as many American live shows tend to feature such music. I had a memorable experience back in Baltimore, Maryland when Ruby and I attended an Eagles Band live show where I also watched Joe Walsh perform my old favorite, his hit song, Life’s been good, whose discovery I talk about in the book. Not forgetting the Eagles group itself who reminded me about my younger days when the band released songs like Hotel California, Desperado and Life in the Fast Lane, to name a few.
We also attended Buddy Guy’s live performance in Dallas, Texas where he gave a a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite, “Cognac” as well as a soul-searching tribute to his old friend, the late Muddy Watters.
My taste for Zimbabwean music has also remained trapped in the old sounds of Thomas Mapfumo and the late Oliver Mutukudzi though thanks to my children, I am also beginning to open up to some current artists. I was looking for my old favorite, Tanga wekwa Sando on Apple Music the other day, and bumped into his collaboration “Bvuma” with ExQ, a group some of whose songs on this album I’ve grown to enjoy immensely as well. I particularly enjoy listening to the lyrics in the songs of these young Zimbabwean musicians that are so rich in telling stories with rhyming words. Jah Preza is one such musician who has taken the Zimbabwean musical stage by storm. I was hugely disappointed when his concert scheduled for Dallas, Texas was cancelled at the last minute when many were looking forward to his live performance.
I must say I respected Mkanya’s decline of Chivhayo’s reported offer of a house, car and cash towards the legend’s retirement because of the questionable source of the donor’s resources. But I sincerely believe he should have still accepted the gifts because really, isn’t that somehow also the fruits of his own labors on stage back home? The way stuff is happening in Zim, I don’t know whether there is much left that is not tainted in one way or the other. Aging stars like Mkanya, Thomas Mapfumo deserve some windfall of some sort so they can return home and take a deserved rest bereft of any worries about where and how they get their next meal.
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