As EARGROUND TV, we have done plenty of interviews, but this one hit differently, it is the music your parents spun on repeat in the 90s! We scored a one-in-a-million opportunity to sit down with Busi Ncube, the legend who blazed the trail for Zimbabwe music with her explosive 1990s smash “True Love,” a timeless anthem fusing soulful mbira grooves with her silky, captivating vocals. As one of the pioneering female artists to shatter international barriers, she catapulted the Zim sound onto global stages, proving our music could electrify the world!
By Tinotenda Chimusoro
Check the questions below for her exclusive insights on Zim music’s evolution.
Q: From your perspective, how would you describe the state of Zimbabwean music today, especially in terms of creativity, originality, and message?
A: From my perspective as a mature and old school artist, I think the state of Zimbabwe music today has developed leaps and bounds as an export item and if natured carefully could contribute to the GDP of the country. Music artists need their own policy and Ministry that is not diluted with sports.
Q: What are the biggest differences you notice between the music industry now and during the time you started your career (in how artists are discovered, promoted, and supported)?
A: The biggest difference I noticed when I started then and now is that we worked harder and copied professionals at work to learn the ropes. It took us a long time in the practice room without payment because we had faith and dedication to our music.
Promoters of our time loved the music and grew with a band or artist, sacrificing their own finances until success was met.
Q: How have changes in technology and media (radio, TV, social media, streaming) affected how Zimbabwean music is made, shared, and received compared to back then?
A: Technology and how media operates have had an impact on how music is distributed and recorded. For example, nowadays anyone with a laptop and data can sit in their living room and find some prerecorded beats and some vocals. One does not need a band or live players as per say to produce music. Some of the music produced is not mature enough for consumption by the paying public, but unfortunately this is the era we are living in. They are producer, artist, player and singer in one. My point is one needs a professional producer and opinion and input in music industry for it to be called music.
Q: Looking at younger artists coming up now, what encourages you about the future of Zimbabwean music, and what concerns (if any) do you have about the direction it’s taking?
A: Looking at the upcoming artists, I am encouraged listening to artists like Hope Masike, Carmen Warari, Feil Nandi Awakhiwe, Jan Praise Mzee Kay, Silent Ngqo, just to mention a few, that the direction of the Zim sound is going to be carried forward to the next generation.
You must remember this music if you want to keep our heritage with our original sounds to move forward we can’t go and stand on the same stage with reggae artists and claim its ours.
On the same tone there are some of the artists that have sent very good message through their dancehall music and influenced the youth in a good way without doubt, one of them being Winky D.
My concern is that the most popularized and played music genre on radio or TV is dancehall, which does not have its origins in Africa or nearby but from Jamaica.
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