Prostitution, drugs and violence in Zim music revealed

Over the years there has been talk about immoralities that ensnare musicians in their world of fame and fortune, but the artists are always protective about their experiences in their moments of weakness. They always strive to cover up suspicious footprints of their steps in this fast and eventful lane called showbiz. It only takes courageous men like renowned guitarist and producer Clive Mono Mukundu to unravel the myths and secrets of the music industry. Mono has worked with various musicians as a guitarist and producer and vastly toured with Oliver Mtukudzi and Chiwoniso Maraire.

He has had a hand in hundreds of projects with musicians like Shingisai Suluma, Elias Musakwa, Alexio Kawara, CCAP Mbare Voices, Carol Chiwenga, Admire Kasenga, Pah Chihera, AGEA Gospel Train, Somandla Ndebele, Ivy Kombo, Brian Sibalo, Joyce Simeti, Fungisai Zvakavapano, Willom Tight and Selmor Mtukudzi, among many others.

In his new book titled Following the Melody, Mono revisits his experiences in the industry, uncovering some dark practices and beliefs of the art. He also celebrates the success stories of the industry and gives highlights of the lessons he learnt on his journey in professional music that stretches for about three decades.

Prostitution

It is well known that showbiz is a fertile ground for ladies of the night. Musicians, being the core drivers of activities in the scene, are inevitably and dangerously exposed to harlots. It takes a strong character to overcome temptations that are endlessly thrust at musicians with unreserved proportions of generosity.

Mono exposes this practice by sharing his personal experience with prostitutes when he shockingly reveals that he had the first sexual encounter of his life with a lady of the night and got a sexually transmitted infection. It was in 1990 and Mono was the lead guitarist for a band called Crocodile Rockers Gang, which was based at Tsvingwe Bar in Penhalonga.

Mono narrates his experience with a lady called Maria Berzek. "I and the band drummer Donald 'Dread Samma' Mashaba were the youngest in the band. As a result groupies and prostitutes would throw themselves at us more than other band members. At first I stuck to my policy of never getting involved with prostitutes but one woman made it her business to transform me. Her name was Maria Berzek. She started by showering me with gifts. At first she would send waiters in the bar with drinks and I would just wave at her. End of story."

The guitarist retells how Maria continued to shower him with bigger presents and told him why she was being generous. After her efforts seemed futile, she used a trick to humiliate him before his fellow band members, who were seriously involved with prostitutes.

"As I was relaxing with my friends one day, she came and told them I was barren and impotent and that was why I was refusing to sleep with her. Her strategy worked because my friends laughed at me. They began teasing me daily in front of their girlfriends. Then one day I decided to 'defend my honour'. I agreed to her demands and I was infected with a sexually transmitted disease. It was the most painful experience I had ever had in my life."

Mono said that after a similar experience in Mutare, he decided to stop being involved with prostitutes, but his fellow band members continued with the practice and most of them later succumbed to AIDS. The musician also notes how prostitution was rampant in other bands that he later joined in his career.

Drug and alcohol abuse

When Mono started music, he neither drank alcohol nor smoked. "I had friends of my age but also had a number of friends that were much older than me. I would visit them and do jam sessions as they drank their beer and smoked weed, but I never joined them in such practices."

However, with time and exposure, the guitarist was initiated into the practices, which were common among fellow band members.

Besides narrations in Mono's book there are a number of musicians who have confessed to taking mbanje (marijuana) for energy. It is also common for the current crop of young Zimdancehall musicians to praise the drug in their songs. They say it enhances their creativity. There have been many stories about musicians that fail to go on stage because they would be heavily intoxicated, while others perform dismally as they are visibly drunk. Mono laments the consequences of such behaviour.

Like his involvement with prostitutes, Mono started drinking alcohol when he was with Crocodiles Rockers Gang. The musician says he became notorious for over-drinking when they were based in Mutare and he was always at loggerheads with their promoter, whom he accuses of mistreating them. However, in some lines Mono seems to justify their use of mbanje and alcohol as a way of escaping poverty, which stalked them as an unknown band.

"We used to live in a one-roomed rented cabin in Dangamvura Township. Our weekly pay was not enough for us to seek individual accommodation. After getting paid we would buy food for the whole week and share the remainder of the money equally and we used it mainly on beer and mbanje... and we would get high for fun."

The habit continued and Mono says that years later when he went to a practice session with Harare-based gospel group Soul Seekers, he was so drunk he could not recognise some faces in the band.

"I also used to do jams with a band that played at Fountain Blue Bar that was close to my place in Kuwadzana with a band called Dendemaro. The jams were free shows, but were good for free beer. I was a heavy drinker then, so fans used to buy us beer."

At some point Mono began to feel the adverse effects of alcoholism and agreed to repent when he joined EGEA Gospel Train. While playing for the band, evangelist Admire Kasi encouraged him to give his life to Jesus. For some time, he refused to have anything to do with secular musicians as he nurtured his new faith and lifestyle.

Violence and oppression

When Mono repented and joined the gospel music scene, he thought he had found a safe haven, but things proved otherwise. To an outsider gospel music outfits may seem squeaky-clean, yet Mono uncovers some of the worst forms of abuse by musical pastors and reverends.

Mono says he had experienced many forms of abuse, especially from promoters, in the world of secular music and was surprised that pastors who mentored gospel groups were just as abusive. After joining EGEA Gospel Train under the stewardship of Kasi, Mono began to realise that the band leader was ruthless and everyone in the group feared him.

"He (Kasi) would shout at anybody  angrily on the microphone or even slap you before the congregation. As a new member in the team, coming from a secular band, I was very surprised."

He notes how the band members were always reminded of the Christian doctrine of "living by faith" every time they complained about their remuneration. When he went on to join the gospel band Christian Life Centre, Mono faced a similar situation at the hands of another pastor whom he accuses of controlling his band by use of fear tactics. He left because of the treatment.

When he reveals the practice of physical violence between bands and band members, Mono revisits a 1991 incident in Dzivaresekwa where their band clashed with Pied Pipers over gate takings.

He says Crocodile Rockers Gang was notified in the last minute that they would share the stage with Pied Pipers, yet the former band's slot had not been advertised to fans.

"After the show, Pied Pipers said they had to get more money since they were more known than us. A brawl erupted and Chikoko, our band leader, drew out a knife. That was a mistake as one of the Pied Pipers had a much bigger knife and we were totally outnumbered, so we had to run for our dear lives." The issue of bands and musicians fighting one another has become even more pronounced in the era of Zimdancehall where artists exchange blows on stage.

When Mono writes about his experiences as a producer at his Monolio Studios, he lightly takes aim at how Congolese groups fight when recording. "In terms of arguments and fights, the rumba groups from the DRC take the award. They can fight over anything, from how a drum roll should be played to a guitar tone. When I say fight, I don't mean verbally only. They fight physically."

A full version of this article was originally published in The Herald.