Sekuru Gora is the one who created the mavembe tuning, the gandanga tuning. Sekuru Gora’s name was Thomas Wadharwa. I first met Sekuru Gora in 1970. He is the one who created the gandanga.
When I asked him, he told me he discovered the tuning at a funeral. People were crying, and he said, “Oh, people are crying in a way that truly elicits sympathy.” From hearing their crying, he said, “Oh, let me tune my mbira and put it in a tuning that matches their crying.” And he did that. Then he began to play, and people cried even harder. He said, “I won’t abandon this tuning. I will keep it like that.” But that mbira of his was eventually stolen. It was such a nice mbira, and it was stolen together with the deze. Everything was gone, and he had to make another one.
I found this mavembe tuning through VaGora, because he was already playing it when I met him. So when I saw him I said, “Your mbira is exciting. Give it to me, so I can play it!” And then I played it. Now, it had been extended through the addition of some extra keys. But it took me only a single day, and I was able to play them all.
VaGora said, “Oh! VaChigamba! You are playing this mbira?” I said, “Yes. It is wonderful.” VaGora said, “You are the only one who has taken up my mbira and played it successfully. Most people fail to play it, declaring it to be out of tune.” I said, “Oh, this mbira is wonderful if only you accept it the way it is. If you take it for what it is you will feel excited by it, because you are accepting it.” He said, “Truly, you are impressive.”
Then I said, “I would like this tuning.” He said, “Alright, go and make a mbira of your own.” Then I made one of my own, and I tuned it to VaGora’s. So then, we began playing together. We used to play in Highfield, in Glen Norah. And then he moved, and we used to play together in Chitungwiza. That is where we played together for so many years. We would play Nyamaropa tuning, and then we would play gandanga. When we were together, after playing Nyamaropa tuning we would move on to gandanga. Oh, we played and played.
“Chipembere,” featuring Tute Chigamba, Sekuru Gora, and Moyo, from the album Vakuru Chaivo
And then both of us went to the National Dance Company, and we spent eleven months together there, together with Irene. Then they cut some people out of the company, saying that the number of people in the group was too big. And so I left, while Sekuru Gora stayed on as the mbira instructor. So he stayed, and worked for a total of ten years together with Irene, and then eventually they left.
Then, we joined forces with Gora again, and played together once more in 1980, just as Zimbabwe was entering into independence. We made a film with Gora, Mujuru, myself, Irene, Leah, and Fungai Mujuru. The film was intended for showing schoolchildren. But it was stolen, and we never saw it. It was stolen. They said it was very nice. But we only saw a little bit of it, in the studio. They said, “We will call you to come and see it.” But it was never found. So we never saw that film.
So that was my journey with Gora, until eventually we made a CD together. That was the final thing; he never even got to listen to it. He didn’t hear it. So, the time when Gora died, that is also when Ephat Mujuru died. Mujuru died first, and then Gora died. So now, I would say that I am among the few well-known elders who are left.