Performed by Mhuri YeKwaChigamba
I composed “Ngozi Yemuroora” (The daughter-in-law’s vengeful spirit) in Mount Darwin. I realized that on the one hand, there is “Shumba Yemukwasha” (The son-in-law’s lion), which describes the son-in-law’s situation. Well then, what about a female person? We see that there is only the song “Shanje” (Jealousy). What if she is wronged, what will happen to her?
Then, I decided on “Ngozi Yemuroora,” because for people who are women, there are so many things that happen once you are married. Yes, you are ordered around by your husband’s paternal aunts, you are ordered around by your husband’s brothers, and there are also other people at his home who order you around. Then, what happens when you are being ordered around? Whom do you tell?
Then I said, “No, we should talk about this now, in a song.” Then I put that into “Ngozi Yemuroora.” As it has been played, that song enabled me to see so many things. Because some people cried, they cried as I was playing it. Then didn’t know what was happening when I started it, and then I told them the story of how it began.
This was before I had built my houses there in Rushinga. I was living at the home of my brother-in-law, VaChioro’s brother. That is where I was living. And I was given a place to sleep inside of a house that was in the middle of being built. So, that floor was damp, and that is where they laid out my sleeping mat with two blankets, one beneath me and one to cover myself with. In there, in that damp place. That is where I was staying, and that is how I was living. Then I picked up my mbira, and I started to play mbira. That is when “Ngozi Yemuroora” came to me.
I said, “Oh, this song that I am playing is excellent.” Then I waited a bit, and came back to it again, and I said, “Oh, now it is really happening, and I am now able to really play it. That’s it!” The next day is when I looked for the kutsinhira, and then I found the kutsinhira. I said, “This song, oh, I will play it when I go back to Harare” – I was in Rushinga – “When I go to Harare I will play that song.” And then I played the song, and then I went to sleep.
The next day, I said, “Shall I call this song ‘Shumba Yamukwasha?'” I said, “There is already ‘Shumba Yamukwasha.'” I said, “No, it is better to talk about the daughter-in-law’s situation.” And then I didn’t call it “Shumba Yemukwasha,” I called it “Ngozi Yemuroora.”