Albert Nyathi

Poet

Albert Nyathi is a poet, musician, writer, actor, and philanthropist^. Nyathi mastered traditional praise poetry at school. Born on 15 November 1962 at Kafusi in Gwanda District in Matabeleland South. Nyathi started to write his plays and poems at a tender age, inspired by the national freedom struggle. Albert Nyathi studied for a bachelor of arts degree from the University of Zimbabwe where, as a student in the 1980s, he became very influential within the student union and often spoke at rallies. Later, he gave up his career in government service as a senior member of the National Arts Council to concentrate on performance poetry and the development of youth training programmes in Harare.

After experiments in community theatre and performing arts, including teaching song and dance to township youths, in 1990, he started fusing his poetry with music to reach a wider audience and became particularly famous for the poem and song “Senzeni Na?”, which he composed following the assassination of Chris Hani responding to treachery and betrayal. Nyathi started praise poetry as a very young boy where he used to sing praise poetry while herding cattle in rural Matabeleland South. Over the years he managed to expand his audience to include other countries in and outside the African continent. In 1990 Albert started fusing poetry and song.

He formed his group Imbongi in 1995 and his debut album Kuze Kube Nini (For How Long?) was recorded in 1994. Many of the songs on the album are still big hits. In 1997, he performed for Nelson Mandela celebrating his visit to Zimbabwe. In 1999, he performed at the funeral of former Vice President and one of the pioneers of nationalism Joshua Mqabuko Nyongolo Nkomo commonly known as Father Zimbabwe.

Nyathi has released four Albums to date including Welcome to Zimbabwe (Land of Contradictions) in 2000 and My Daughter in 2008. Nyathi has also been involved in the development of various arts talent when in 2017 he launched The Albert Nyathi Talent Search (Ants), aimed at, primary and secondary school-going artists. The programme aimed at giving a platform to learners to nurture and develop their talent.

Nyathi has performed in South Africa saying praises about the Great King of the Ndebele and founder of the Mthwakazi Kingdom, Mzilikazi. The issues he addresses in his poetry are those that affect people’s everyday lives. Nyathi performs in both English and Ndebele using straightforward colloquial language, easily accessible speech rhythms, and simple overt imagery. Nyathi reaches out to and embraces everyone with his concerns which reflect their own. His prose combines the Poet and audience into one living being reassured by a commonality in a complex world where tradition and modernity, religion and politics, poverty and wealth, hunger, unemployment and death jostle consciously at the forefront of people’s, often difficult, lives.

As an artist, Albert Nyathi is a legend who has contributed immensely to the growth of the music and poetry culture in Zimbabwe. He won the Zimbabwe National Poetry Award in 1995 and his collections, Echoes from the Kraal and Echoes from Zimbabwe, were published in 2001 and 2010. He has toured several countries including Botswana, Zambia, United States, Russia, Denmark, the Netherlands, and South Africa.