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05 October 2008
By Godwin Muzari
At a time when the dust around the blazoned Alick Macheso-Tongai Moyo feud appeared to have settled, another storm is looming.
The squabble, termed "Sungura Cold War", which was hyped across the media terrain for the better part of last year, had apparently subsided, but some of Tongai’s upcoming songs have sparked another debate.
The musician went into the studio to record his 12th album last week and the content on the upcoming release has aroused interest among fans.
Tongai played most of his new songs during last weekend’s shows and some people immediately concluded that some lyrics were firing at Macheso.
On one of the songs the musician goes: "hongu, ndinoziva kuti zizi harina nyanga, asi rakamhara pamusoro penyanga’.
Coming on the heels of Macheso’s: usatyisidzirwe nezizi kuti rine nyanga, hadzisi nyanga inzeve, Tongai’s lyrics were largely viewed as a counter statement.
Conversely Macheso was apparently targeting Tongai’s previous album Pinda Panyanga when he uttered the preceding statement through his animator Jonasi Kasamba.
And that is not all. On another song titled Kumbirai, Tongai borrows a Lingala cliché in the statement "nakubanga bino te, nakubanga nzambe ngangayi", which means "I do not fear any man but I only fear God".
Given the threats and harsh words that characterised the feud, a number of fans believed Tongai was making a strong statement.
Are we about to witness the continuation of this war of words or probably "Sungura Cold War II"?
Are we about to see Macheso and Tongai hitting the headlines in a fresh row once again?
While in the Western music industry it is common for artistes to openly castigate each other through songs in battles that even spill to personal circles, local musicians will always do it behind smoke screens.
Both Macheso and Tongai still maintain that there is no bad blood between them although their lyrics would inevitably make fans believe otherwise. Tongai said none of his songs refer to any specific person or event but most of the lyrics were part of his traditional social commentary approach.
"We do not target anyone with our lyrics. We simply sing about the general situations of life but interpretation differs.
"When we say zizi rakamhara pamusoro penyanga we are simply warning everyone that they should look beyond appearances that can be misleading at times.We are telling people not to judge situations by what they see on the surface but be cautioned that there can be stronger forces behind any event or situation," explained Tongai.
Asked why he had based his idiom on the issues of "horns" and "owls" that had already been implicated in his feud with Macheso, Tongai said it was just a continuation of what they had started.
"We were the first to allude to the issue of ‘horns’ when we named our previous album ‘Pinda Panyanga’. If anyone responded to that statement in any way, it does not affect us. Macheso might have been responding to that title or simply referring to something totally different and that has nothing to do with us. We pioneered the nyanga proverb and we are just carrying on.
"The problem is that there will always be numerous interpretations to any song because art is open to various meanings," said Tongai.
On the other hand, Macheso reiterated that he had nothing against Tongai and his lyrics were common statements.
"Fans are the consumers of our music. We make and serve the food and they judge. Whatever they say, we do not deny, but at times our songs take a completely different meaning.
"If our fans interpret them in some way, pane zvavanenge vaona and you can never say their interpretations are wrong. But sometimes we end up coming down to our fans to conform with their explanations," said Macheso.
Openly, Macheso sometimes sings on with fans during live shows even when the fan-versions of his songs take a swipe at other artistes. So, has the beef ended as the musicians want fans to believe or it will even intensify?
What would be the major interpretation of Tongai’s lyrics and how will Macheso respond?
It remains to be seen.
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