TAWANDA MARWIZI
Around 11 pm in mid-September, 2011, merrymakers at Sports Diner were enjoying themselves, waiting for Tongai (Dhewa) Moyo’s show to start. He was a regular at this club. And judging by the ladies who had already made their way into the club, taking up the most strategic positions, Moyo was also a ladies man.
In the midst of a merrymaking atmosphere, one of his chanters shouted “Mopao Mokonzi (the big man) is coming on stage,” and moments later a frail Dhewa appeared on stage, dampening the spirits of his fans.
“I will be fine don’t cry but let’s all take the fight against cancer forward. Dhewa will be fine,” Moyo put on a brave face. The musician encouraged people to fight cancer, a disease he eventually succumbed to a month later on October 15 2011.
Dhewa, as Moyo was affectionately known, managed to create a household name with most of his love songs. Seven years down the line, the musician’s songs still have an impact on the local entertainment industry.
Monday marked seven years since the musician departed from this earth, but his works have not departed from the hearts of many Zimbabweans.
Forget about all the drama outside the stage and studio; the musician brought life to the Sungura genre.
In 2005, he released an album “Naye” that posed stiff competition to Alick Macheso’s “Vapupuri Pupurai”.
Though the two musicians were bitter rivals; they never publicly admitted there was bad blood between them.
Lyrics in their songs however betrayed them.
When Dhewa came up with “Pinda Panyanga”, Macheso’s then chanter Jonasi Kasamba popularised the line “usatyisidzirwe nezizi kuti rine nyanga, hadzisi nyanga inzeve” (don’t be intimidated by the owl’s fake horns).
Dhewa hit back on the next release and asserted “hongu ndinoziva kuti zizi harina nyanga, asi rakamhara pamusoro penyanga” (I know an owl does not have horns but it is sitting on a higher position — on top of horns). Their cat-andmouse relationship made the industry exciting and Dhewa will always be remembered for being Macheso’s toughest rival.
He had the energy, confidence and zeal. The musician’s passion to promote and put Kwekwe on the limelight saw him refuse to move from his base. He was proud of his hometown.
No doubt, the musician managed to stage o u t s t a n d i n g shows across the country and his songs were hits that made an impact in the country and beyond.
During his first days in the showbiz, Dhewa was dismissed as a Leonard Dembo copycat.
He listened to Oliver Mtukudzi’s advice and created Sungura beats that were fused with some rhumba beats.
But his l e g a c y lives on T h e m u s i c i a n’s eldest son Peter Moyo is trying to keep the musician’s legacy alive. In his first album, the musician was deemed a write off as his vocals were pathetic. Peter has soldiered on and has improved at both live performances and in the studio.
