BY MICHELINA ANDREUCCI
Those of us who are old enough will remember the large commanding piece of furniture that occupied pride of place in our homes.
The ubiquitous Supersonic, WRS, Panasonic, Peoples Radio sets that filled a corner and dominated the greater part of our small lounges with speakers as large as a modern-day PA system. It was as essential a piece of furniture as the pots and pans. The radio was the centre, pride and joy of every home.
For most teenagers it was the only source of entertainment in those days and many sat with pen and paper at hand next to the radiogram to write down the lyrics of favourite Rock-n-Roll tunes that spinned off vinyl LPs, seven singles or 45 records.
Music programmes filled their minds with the wisdom or folly, of much-loved international rock singers and local musicians.
The radiogram was the talking point of the neighbours when one was delivered to one’s home from Nyore-Nyore or Station Furnishers, Radio Limited, Pelhams, Bradleys, etc.
The radio was a sign of one’s upward mobility, not without a pinch of envy from some of the less well-to-do neighbours’ wives who would soon bleat to their husbands: Kwa mai nhingi kwane zi-Stereo, Baba vemwana.
Mucha tenga yedu riini? – The neighbours have a brand-new stereo, when will we purchase one for us my husband?
The radio was housed in elegant simulated-wooden cabinet in several contemporary furniture styles of the time, with convenient storage compartments for records.
Being the only source of news, knowledge and recreation at that time, it kept everyone well informed and entertained.
For the housewives it was an ever-present companion: Ayewa, Radio yayiti varaidza isu anamai! For husbands, it was essential for the 8’oclock evening news and the 3’oclock football commentaries at weekends.
The “Top of the Pops” and “Top Ten” music programmes for the younger people and the greeting programme kwaziso/ukubingelela for the police and armed forces. Radio was a fundamental part of our everyday lives in Zimbabwe long before the internet.
African radio stations played a major role as promoters of popular local music. At the time, we listened to the humorous, anecdotal, romantic, morally upright and sometimes sad records of the socio-cultural situations in the high-density suburbs.
Radio provided the music that offered relief from the pressures of high-density life, Rhodesian oppression and respite from the labour-intensive farming compounds and mining communities of pre-independent Zimbabwe, where many early music groups.
Musicians such as Thomas Mapfumo and the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band (later became the Blacks Unlimited), Green Jangano and the Green Arrows, Harare Mambos, Tineyi Chikupo, Jonah Moyo and Devera Ngwena Jazz Band, James Chimombe and Ocean City Band, Safirio “Mukadota” Madzikatire and the Sea Cottage Sisters, and John Chibadura amongst others had their foundation.
Radio was undoubtedly the dominant and most important mass medium in Africa. From the early 1950’s and 1960’s when our fathers and grandfathers before, went to work in“Wenera”, one of the 53 mines of the Witwatersrand’s gold-mining industry in South Africa, where they toiled in the bowels of the earth for up to 14 hours a day.
When they returned home from their hard grind, it was mandatory that they brought back the latest radiograms from South Africa – a positive sign of their newly found wealth, upward mobility and sophistication!
I am reminded of such popular songs as Daniel Makunha’s “Bhurukwa Rako rine Chigamba”, later made popular by the Cool Crooners. “Torai kapadza” and “Itayi Senti Senti” from the likes of Eliah Banda, and the Great Sounds’ “Ano penga anewaya”; De Black Evening Follies with “Kuno Kumakomo kwa Mutare”, along with Safirio Madzikatire’s “Kwa Hunyani”- the popular duet with Susan Chenjerai which was later remixed featuring the voice of Katarina.
The Marshall Brothers with” Kure kwatinobva, Makwiro Shamwari” – (We hail from Makwiro), as well as songs by Joseph Musabika, Jordan Chaitaika, Jackson Chinembiri, Ngwaru Mapundu, Taurai Uzumba, Mahotela Queens, Lovemore Majaivana, Fanyana Dube, Mbuya MaDube, Devera Ngwena, Safirio “Mukadota” Madzikatire, Manu Kambani, Jonah Sithole, Zexie Manatsa, and many others, who provided the mainstay in entertainment for the people.
Some of these musicians were already singing songs in support of the people’s struggles during the 1965-1979 War of Liberation despite the repressive omnipresence of State censorship from the Rhodesian regime.
We also cannot ignore the role the simple radio played in broadcasting and dissemination of information, and as a sensitive and important component of community service nation-building today.
Michelina Andreucci is a Zimbabwean-Italian researcher. She is a published author in her field. For comments E-mail:linamanucci@gmail.com
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