Amagents keeps Dumi’s dream alive

The group, which is now being fronted by Thulani ‘Sugar’ Moyo, has been performing since just a month after Dumi passed away late last year and all the nine other members are still with the group.
Moyo also fronts an Imbube group based in Harare, Ihawu Lesizwe.

In an interview the, Moyo, who is affectionately called Sugar in music circles, said they began performing without Dumi at his memorial service held at Zimbabwe College of Music late last year.
“After that we talked to the family to see if we could keep on playing as AmaGents and they did not see anything wrong with it and they gave us the go ahead,” he said.

Moyo said though I was not easy to fill out the void left by Dumi, the fact that he had worked with Dumi from his first album Tshonalanga  made it easy for him to take the reins.
“I have worked with Dumi since his debut and we also did his second album Echoes from the Mountains, but on his third album Zvinhu Zvangu, I was busy with Ihawu  Lesizwe and I did not record with him,” he said.

Moyo said the group was indebted to promoter David Mashumba who has been carrying the group’s financial burden and had made sure that they stayed afloat.
“We also owe it to Mdhara Diva Dollar he has been there for the group and we are happy to be working with him,” he said.

The lead singer who juggles between the two groups said it was easy for him to be leading two bands because they had different schedules.
“Ihawu now performs at corporate functions and at wedding and its only for a few hours and the longest which we can go is one hour thirty minutes, so its easier to juggle the two,” he said.

He said since Dumi passed on they had kept a busy schedule that had seen them performing at Holiday Inn, Jameson Hotel and clubs like Tube, Players and Third World which was near Dumi’s home in Westlea.
He said they had been sharing the proceeds from the gigs with Dumi’s family and all was  well and everyone was happy.

“We are nine and Dumi’s family is the 10th member, everyone gets a fair share of whatever we get from our shows,” he said.

Fans can just hope that the group will not fall victim to the revolving door syndrome due to money and power struggles, which other groups in similar circumstances fell into.
More groups at home and abroad have died natural deaths after their founders died.

In Zimbabwe, John Chibadura’s Tembo Brothers, Marshall Munhumumwe’ s Four Brothers, Leonard Dembo’s Barura Express and Paul Mpofu’s Zambuko have failed to thrive after their leaders died.-Chronicle

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