22 February 2022
Charlene Thabisile Mguni
ZIM GBC NEWS is taking you way back, way back to the old days of good music during the times of the famous musical boy band, the The Bhundu Boys.
The Bhundu Boys was a Zimbabwean outfit that rose to fame in the 80s, playing a mixture of Chimurenga with American Rock ‘n’ Roll, Disco, Country and Pop music.
The name “Bhundu” came from the native shona language meaning the Bush or jungle, and they adopted that name in reference to the young boys who used to help guerilla fighters in the 1970s war against the white monority government of Rhodesia.
The band’s lead singer and guitarist was Biggie Tembo, other band members included Rise Kagona (Guitarist), Kenny Chitsvatsva (Acoustic Drum Kit), David Mankaba (Bass Guitarist), Shakespeare “Shakie” Kangwena (Keyboardist), Shepherd Munyama (Bass Guitarist), Washington Kavhai (Bass Guitarist), Kudaushe Matimba and Gordin Mapika ( Acoustic Drum kit).
The journey to fame began in 1982 when they released their first 7″ Vinly single (Une Shuwa Here) at Shed Studios, a recording studio which was responsible for producing hundreds of bands and a lot of music used for various advertisements and films in Rhodesia and in Zimbabwe post independence until year 2000.
The Bhundu Boys’ style of music was known as the Jit, a popular style in Zimbabwe dance music. It features swift rhythm played on drums and accompanied by a guitar, today it is often compared to Sungura which has been popularised by the likes of Alick Macheso.
As they were signed under the Shed Studios own record label Rugare, they had to produce songs every month to build up a strong following for the band and between 1982 and 1986 they had released four number one hits topping the Zimbabwean charts “Baba Munini Francis”, “Wenhamo Haaneti”, Hatisitose, “Tsvimbodzemoto”.
One of their hit song along the years Simbimbino was depicted from folktales that usually had hidden means, and that qualified them as story tellers.
From their hit songs came 5 albums to their names namely Shabini,1986, True Jit, Pamberi, Friends on the Road and Muchiyedza.
In their hey day years they toured the United Kingdom, where they attracted the attention of Owen Elias and his colleague, musician Champion Doug Veitch, who released an LP by the band in the UK under licence from Shed Studios in 1985.
Their music was to be well received as two DJ’s John Peel and Andy Kershaw promoted the band on BBC Radio.
Thus in September 1985 Shed Studios gave notice to extend the contract for a further 3 years and the band continued to churn out hit after hit.
As their music matured, so did the fame grow as well and given the popularity spread by Peel and Kershaw, their first UK album, Shabhini, was released in 1986 however this was a compilation of music already released in Zimbabwe.
Unfortunately a series on misfortunes eventually started befalling the band, failure of one of their albums was a premise to further misfortune.
Fame got the better of Lead singer Biggie Tembo was more popular scoring interviews and much attention in the media and this irritated other band members and in 1990 Tembo was asked to leave the band.
As the band continued, it was never the same without Tembo on the spotlight.
Three other members of the band died due to AIDS complications: Mankaba, Shepherd Munyama( Mankaba’s replacement) and Shakespear Kangwena. Later in 1995 Tembo hanged himself due to depression.
Rise Kagona lives in Scotland and has wrote a couple of accounts on the band’s history.
Kuda Matimba lives in London as of 2007.
Tembo is survived by his sons Moyo Tembo, and Biggie Tembo Jr who are also in the music industry.