Rushinga with the BBC

In 1995, two women came to Zimbabwe from London – Lucy Duran and Tessa Watt. They came from the BBC World Service, and they were doing a program called “Talking Drum.” Tessa was the producer, and Lucy was the presenter. And they came to Keith Goddard, and Keith said, “Ah, I think the one who can do this is Mr. Chigamba.” So they came to my house with Diane Thram, who came to Zimbabwe to do research for her book. They said, “Can we go to Rushinga?”

They wanted to see a matepe player called Josam Nyamukuvengu. It’s a difficult name! Nyamukuvengu. And he plays matepe in Rushinga. Right near the border, after Marymount Mission.

Matepe song “Kashiri Kamambo,” performed in Nyanehwe Village, Rushinga. (Courtesy Tessa Watt)

And I didn’t want to go with them! I said, “I can give you Garadziva or Irene.” They said, “They are too young for this project. We can’t go with them.” So I said, “No, I can’t go, I am busy.” And they said, “No, no, no.” And Diane came to me and said, “Mr. Chigamba, the whole world will listen to you if you go there.” Then I agreed to go. We spent seven days there. We went there for four days while they were brewing beer. Then we came back to Harare. And we went back again and spent three days, and finished everything.

And it was hard, because people there speak Korekore. We went together with Chris Berry, and Chris knew Shona. And Keith Goddard knew a little bit of Shona. And Phillip Marira, who was working for Keith Goddard, he knew Shona. But they all failed to communicate with those people. I said, “Phillip, you can do it! You know.” But Phillip said, “No I can’t.” It was hard. The Korekore Shona is different.

And it was fun there, but it was a hard time for me. Because Tessa, Lucy, and me, the three of us were connected together, and we spent the whole night together working. And they had their guys interpreting for the spirits. They were so slow, and they didn’t let people sleep. Because Lucy had to ask me the questions, and I had to ask the guy, and he had to ask to the spirit.

Sekuru Chigamba plays the mbira dzavadzimu song “Shumba” as a possessed spirit medium speaks. (Courtesy Tessa Watt and Lucy Duran)

You know, it took time for him to ask the spirit. Then I said, “You know, I understand this Shona.” Then I had to point direct to the spirit. And everything went well. But you know, I slept for only ten or twenty minutes at a time. Then I would wake up, and do my job. I was translating the whole night.

The first night we were playing mbira, and talking to the spirits. And the next night was for the drums. I said, “Oh, Chris, you know better about the drums. I have to take a break.” And I sat down. Well, Chris failed, because the language was different. And Lucy had to look for me. And she found me, and said, “Please come here.” And I talked with them, and put all the drums in their category. The little ones, the medium one, and the bass drums. There was a girl was who playing the big drum, and her name was Jennifer!

Jennifer Chari plays the mutumba drum. (Courtesy Tessa Watt and Lucy Duran)

The big drum, we call that mutumba. And then there is mhito and usindi. Usindi are the little ones – there are two. And what Lucy and Tessa wanted was for people to play the usindi and clap hands. Then leave the usindi and play the next one, with people still clapping their hands. And then play the big one, with people still clapping their hands. And they wanted to know, “The little ones, who are they?” They were told, “They are the kids. When they cry, the mother has to find out why. So they tell their mother the problem. And the mother will tell to the husband, the mutumba.” Yeah, so that’s what Lucy and Tessa wanted to know.

Performers George Gatsi, Never Mazowe, and Shupai Chasafare play the ngoma rhythm of teura. (Courtesy Tessa Watt and Lucy Duran)

And from there, in the morning they wanted to know about the matepe. I said, “Phillip, these girls want to see the matepe. So, let me sleep! I haven’t slept for all these days. I was working day and night. So I need to take just an hour, or thirty minutes, to sleep.”

But I didn’t take even ten minutes! Phillip came back, and he said, “Please come here.” I said, “Phillip, can you do this for me? I want to sleep.” And he said, “No, no, no, here, I can’t do anything. I don’t know about this.”

And I went there and took the matepe, and tried to analyze that is there on the gwariva. And I did everything. So, they said, “This is what we wanted! Even a blind person can know the matepe from your description.” I said, “Phillip, you can’t do this?” He said, “Ah, no, I’m not good at those measurements. We didn’t do non-metric mathematics.” Because Lucy and Tessa wanted the gwariva to be measured in inches. And I did that. Afterward, I didn’t go back to sleep – I had to walk somewhere again with them. Well, you know, it was hard.

And they paid me three hundred dollars just to thank me for the work done. And that’s when they told me that they went with some people to Binga, because when they first came, they wanted to do “Talking Drum” in Binga. But the people they went to Binga with ran away, so they didn’t do anything there.

And they said, “Have you gone to school for this?” I said, “No.” They said, “But how? You were talking to the spirits, even when it didn’t work to talk to them through those guys,” I said, “They were slow!” They said, “So, how did you manage to talk to the spirits?” I said, “My father was doing the same job. And I should have to do it, too.”

Then they gave me another three hundred dollars, and they said, “Yeah, we did well.” And then Phillip drove me to my house. And they also sent me another eighty pounds from the BBC World Service. Yeah, they sent a check for eighty pounds. And that was the trip.

And when we left there we drove to my house, and they saw my wife. I gave her all the money they gave me, and Lucy said, “Yes! This is wonderful. I have never seen Zimbabweans doing this.” Because some Zimbabweans don’t give their money to their wives, they keep the money with them.

She said, “Why did you give all the money we gave you to your wife?” I said, “My wife is here at home. She’s by herself. And she has to take care of all of these children, and the whole property. So if she doesn’t have money, how can she support herself? She must have money,” And she said, “Yeah, there you are right. But not very many Zimbabweans do that. You are the first one we saw.” I said, “Okay, yeah.”

Then we went back to Harare, and they took me to their hotel. They said, “We should go to the hotel.” I said, “Why should I go to the hotel? I want to go to my house!” They said, “No, no, no, Mr. Chigamba, we know what we’re doing! Let’s go to the hotel!” And we went to the hotel. And Lucy said, “Chigamba, you did well. You worked very hard. Some people didn’t want to go ahead with the job, and they ran away. But you did it! It was the three of us. Each and every time when we did our things, we were three – Tessa, you, and me. So we want to thank you.”