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Killer T

Robert Mukondiwa
THIS time last year, the world of Zimbabwean music was burning and almost literally so with many people arguing that a losing album deserved the tag of album of the year.

The contenders in album/song of the year of best male artiste were Winky D’s Gafa Life and Jah Prayzah’s Jerusarema alongside Killer T’s Ngoma Ndaimba.

In both the Zimbabwe Music Awards and National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA), Killer T emerged a sad man with only Zima rewarding him with one gong.
The masses were convinced that the album Ngoma Ndaimba deserved to emerge as the album of the year and many were disappointed.

With songs like Takumbofarawo, Maisafanira Kundirega, Vagara Vanongovenga, Itai Ndione, Kukosha Kwechikorobho, Kumanikidzira Rudo and 9, the album and almost every song on the discography had lit the nation, captured the national mood and left listeners in a trance from the lyrical and spiritual genius of the artistry.

Yet with such arsenal and lyrical genius all packed in one single product, the tag of ‘album of the year’ proved elusive as the judges felt he had not produced the album of the year.

And perhaps looking back, they were right about that album. It certainly did not deserve the tag album of the year and if we reflect today we will see why that album along with its pedigree did not get the anointing.

And there is a single simple reason why it did not win. Ngoma Ndaimba is in fact Album of The Decade in Zimbabwe and to anoint it album of the year would have been the greatest blasphemous move in the sacred art of music making the judges would ever have made.

Perhaps it is the Zimbabwean revolutionary album of our time! It did not deserve to be alongside human art like Jah Prayzah’s Jerusarema because they were products that would live and fade away. Jerusarema is almost certainly dead to the listeners today, having had a bubble-gum component to them while Ngoma Ndaimba is strong still.

The beauty of Ngoma Ndaimba is divine and has the hallmarks of an album crafted by God himself. It is enchanting, strong, mystical and didactic in a way that goes beyond the human classifications and yardsticks as measured by years but lives beyond time itself.

Ngoma Ndaimba is an album that came from the heart with social, economic and biblical references which show a Killer T who was inspired by a passionate understanding of the topics he touched on.

It was an album that was inspired by the wounds and scars of humanity, a personal touch being felt in the album that one would identify with it.

It was poignant, evocative, moving, passionate, lingering and unforgettable.

Yes, the judges were right. A work of art that will live with our generation for a decade and more to come would never have deserved the tag album of the year.