BY DR TONY M MONDA
While Zimbabwean pop music has its fair share of talented divas, singer, dancer, actress and songwriter, Ammara Brown has been an outstanding mainstay of Zimbabwean Afro-pop music since her appearance on DStv that catapulted her into the limelight.
Ablaze with alluring talent, she is always imaginative, forceful and creatively styled. Her assertive musical themes range from gender activism, to love and the questioning of cultural stereotypes.
Below the surface of her danceable music – sung in Shona and English, is a rhythm and vitality that is stylistically based on Shona mbira cadence and tempo laced with the high energy of American Soul music.
Her musical identity is rooted in Zimbabwean contemporary life, which she examines and questions with her pulse on gender inequality and traditional socio-cultural biases of women’s rights, women’s social roles, women’s power and women’s fortitude and resilience. These are some of the underlying topics Ammara questions in her music.
Supported by creative videography and equally creative dance choreography, most of Ammara’s lyrics are delivered in the continuous present tense with a vigour and vitality that cannot be ignored.
Born Ammara Nury Brown, on 6 September 1988, the dynamic Zimbabwean Afro-pop diva musician and songwriter is the daughter of the late multi-talented guitarist and vocalist, Andy Brown, the band leader of The Storm with whom he released more than 10 albums. Surrounded by a highly talented family of musicians, singers and dancers she was thrust into the music field when she was three years old and it was natural for her to gravitate towards performing arts.
A product of Chipawo – a popular talent development project, in the early- and- mid-1990s, for young people and the promotion of traditional song and dance in Zimbabwe, Ammara’s prodigious talent was spotted early in her life. As a young girl she sang in many talent shows and was a member of the Martin Luther king choir.
In 1997, at the age of nine, Ammara appeared in various television commercials, most notably for ‘Olivine’ cooking oil with Oliver Mtukudzi. That same year she learned to play the piano and the Mbira which is now her favoured musical instrument.
At the age of 13, Ammara made her first demo recording in 1999, prompting her to join her father’s band, The Storm, where she often featured in the background vocalist during afternoon shows in 2003.
In 2004, Ammara Brown won the regional Music Crossroads and later studied music at the College of Performing Arts (COPA), earning honours and distinctions.
In 2008, Ammara Brown featured in the Top Ten lists of Idols from East and Southern Africa, where she made it to the top 10, and effectively launched her music career.
“Idols was one of the most defining points in my professional career on several fronts. At the time I had a fear of cameras, but through the coaching I received on the show, I learned to manage this fear. Today I’m an award-winning actress! I also learned to ask for help, and renewed my faith in God. I think my favourite moment on Idols Africa was my Top 6 performance.”
Her popularity soon increased in Southern Africa; as a result she was invited to perform at the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010, in South Africa, where she performed with various South African groups including Flabba from Skwatta Kamp. Ammara has also shared the stage with Mi Casa, P-Square, Winky D and Tehn Diamond collaborated with Jah Prayzah on Kure Kure and made a surprise appearance on stage where twerked for Nigerian singer, D’banji during the 2013 edition of the Lion Lager Beer Festival .
An Indefatigable perfectionist Ammara Brown has won and been nominated for various awards
during her career, namely:
2017 – Best Zimbabwean Actress at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival and
International Images Film Festival.
2017 – Best Depiction of a woman in Muzita Rababa at the Zimbabwe International Film
Festival and International Images Film Festival.
2018 – Best Female Artiste at the African Muzic Magazine Awards, (AFRIMMA)
2019 – Best Southern Africa Female Artiste award under the All Africa Music Awards
(AFRIMA) in Nigeria
2019 – Best African Female Artiste under the African Talent Awards in Côte d’Ivoire
2020 – Best Female Artist of the Year at the Zimbabwe Music Awards
Some of Ammara’s notable hits include: Mafaro – a collaboration with her father Andy Brown and band Reverb 7. The song celebrates family happiness and devotedness. Typical of Ammara’s social satire are her inquiring lyrics expressed in the song entitled My Protector, which questions the prevalence of gender violence amongst young suburban couples and the traditional role of the father as the protector of home and family.
In her powerful declaration – Night of the Queen, Amara’s lyrics celebrate women’s power and
cultural rights. In her playful and witty song Mukoko -(honeycomb in Shona), she features musician Tytan, and expresses women’s yearning to be respected in a male-dominated society. The song alludes to the fact that not all single women are of loose morals, and that all women want to be respected.
A further examination of Ammara Browns music reveals that the lyrics brazenly confront male assumptions of women and are directed towards the patriarchal male gender without reserve.
The song Crucify Me makes a powerful statement about how women are judged by a patriarchal society.
The song takes a swipe at preconceived traditional and cultural ideas about African women, their right to freedom of association and their right to pursue a career of their choice; in particularly that of a musician, dancer or performer.
Other notable soul searching songs by this dynamic artiste include the defiantly questioning – WachuWant?- which features her sister Chengeto Brown.
The nostalgic Kure-Kure, which her late father penned, and Like My Music, are other meaningful songs with social commentary worth listening to and taking heed of. The videos of her songs Svoto, Loyal, Tichichema and Glow in the Dark, raise the same commentaries about women’s rights, male infidelity and the rights of children in an extended family.
Whilst on the surface Ammara’s music is danceable and catchy, below the glossy veneer of glitz andbglamour her music is that of a highly perceptive and sensitive musician whose penetrating lyrics can be missed if one does not take time to listen and analyse the socio-cultural milieu that inspires it.
Since Ammara first rose to fame at the age of 19 on the inaugural season of Idols Africa on DStv, this multi-award-winning singer, instrumentalist, dancer, songwriter, producer, actress, brand ambassador and philanthropist has shared stages with artistes such as the late legend Oliver Mtukudzi and Hugh Masekela, Kirk Franklin, HHP, P- Square and Lira.
She has performed for former Malawian presidents Joyce Banda and Bingu Wa Mutharika, and participated in international showcases such as Sauti Za Busara, the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) and the multi-award nominated musical Colour Me Human, a wide and indefinable immersive soundscape composed by Steve Dyer including a stirring arrangement of Makubenjalo (Let it be), staged at the iconic Joburg Theatre in South Africa.
It is time the world hears her voice and feels the depth of her sound and lyrics.
Dr. Tony Michel Monda is an arts, culture and music critic for Gemnation News. He holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA in Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. For Comments E-mail: tonym.MONDA@gmail.com
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