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Mkhululi Ncube, Showbiz Reporter
It was a brothers’ affair at Bosso when Madinda, Adam and Peter Ndlovu played for the team as was

Solomon, Chase and Khumbulani Skuza in the music industry.

Adam Ndlovu is late and so is Solomon and Khumbulani Skuza.

A lot has been written and said about Solomon Skuza whose legendary status is not debatable. Chase Skuza is still around to tell and build his own name but for Khumbulani who died at the young age of 38, his life and contribution to the music industry may easily be forgotten.

The fact that Khumbulani did not use the Skuza surname but instead used Moyo in the music circles, does not help him either.

For some, the shock might be to discover that Khumbulani and Solomon Skuza shared the same father and mother while Chase had a different mother as their father was a polygamist.

Among those who worked with the late Khumbulani Moyo at Tukuye Super Sounds is bassist Cornelius Moyo who is still into music but most of the Tukuye Super Sounds members are late.

One therefore cannot understand the life and the story of the late Khumbulani without a chapter on the story of Cornelius Moyo.

Speaking to Cornelius, it is easy to pick that the death of Khumbulani and that of other band members has taken a toll on him, something which has ‘killed’ his love for rhumba music, which took them to stardom during their heydays.

The connection between the two could be confusing as they used the same surname leading to some concluding they were brothers. The two were only brought together and connected by music and nothing more.

Cornelius was born in Lupane in Ndengwende Village in 1967 while Khumbulani Moyo was born two years earlier in 1965 at Ntoli Village in Bulilima District.

“I was born in Lupane and went to Makhovula Primary School but because of the war, we were disturbed as schools were burnt down. I remember in 1980 when schools re-opened, I was in Grade Three but then came Gukurahundi disturbances which complicated things again. I stopped school at Grade Seven and ventured into music,” Cornelius said.

He said he started using the home-made guitar (Banjo) which cemented his love for music, leading to him forming a band in 1987.

Cornelius said his first band was the Wild Kings Band which was a resident band at MaTshababala cocktail bar at Lupane Centre.

“An injiva, Ntsholiwa Ndlovu from Tsholotsho came and ‘stole’ the whole band and took us to Tsholotsho. This was the death of Wild Kings Band as we assumed the Tsholotsho Super Sounds name. Ntsholiwa had the equipment hence the name change. He became the sponsor of the band. In short, we were his employees,” he said.

Cornelius said they met Khumbulani who was leading Tukuye Super Sounds Band in 1991 though he had seen him earlier in Vumbachikwe, Gwanda where Khumbulani had camped with his band while he was staying with his brother who was employed there.

He said just like him, Khumbulani was also, an employee of Tukuye Super Sounds which was sponsored by a guy who originated from Malawi.

“The name Tukuye was of a guy who was sponsoring Khumbulani. When this guy died, Khumbulani was stranded and went back to his Ntoli Village. Tsholotsho Super Sounds continued holding music shows and at one of the shows we held near his area, Khumbulani was in attendance. He approached us and requested to work with us,” said Cornelius.

He said they were glad to rope in Khumbulani into Tsholotsho Super Sounds because he had already recorded with Tukuye Super Sounds while they had struggled to record because Gramma Records had rejected their demos.

The father of four said before the arrival of Khumbulani, Tsholotsho Super Sounds had lead vocalist Marko Ncube who hailed from Tsholotsho, Nelson Bhebhe from Lupane on drums and vocals, rhythmist Rabson Moyo from Lupane and himself on bass guitar.

With the addition of Khumbulani, they brought other members to bolster the band which saw experienced Nephious Sibanda (drums) and Ellias Moyo (lead guitar) all from Dete, joining in.

“Khumbulani joined us around 1991 and from 1992 to 1993, we sent demos to Gramma Records which were approved. This saw us recording our first seven single Imenya Zami number 3 and uMaNkiwane. But a serious fight was to ensue as Gramma Records wrote Tukuye Super Sounds on the album instead of Tsholotsho Super Sounds.

“For marketing purposes, they preferred Tukuye Super Sounds as it was already a known name associated with Khumbulani. This caused serious fights with our sponsor who had to travel all the way to Harare to address the issue. When we recorded the next project, Intethelelo in 1994, the name problem was addressed,” said Cornelius.

He said life became unbearable under Ntsholiwa as they started fighting over money.

This culminated in them dumping him in 1995.

“The problem was that since he was a Malayitsha, he wanted us to work only when he was in Zimbabwe. This was a challenge as he was spending more time in South Africa. We had to agree on an arrangement that saw him taking 30 percent while we retained 70 percent of the gate-takings.”

The Siyalikhumbula singer said the band continued holding successful shows which saw them travelling far and wide.

At one of these shows in Plumtree which worsened the fight with their sponsor, he said they lost a generator to thieves and Ntsholiwa took a lot of money they had made during the shows saying he was replacing the generator, only to give them an old one which always gave them problems.

Due to this tension, Cornelius said they eventually dumped Ntsholiwa, marking the death of the Tsholotsho Super Sounds. Thereafter, the band came to Bulawayo where they were stranded as they had no equipment.

“We were rescued by a guy who worked for the National Railways of Zimbabwe by the name Charles Ndodyei who had a full kit and had his own band, Kumusha Live Wire. We combined shows which made life easy for us as we began to earn a living from music once again.

“We had assumed the Tukuye Super Sounds name and were very popular. We got another sponsor,

Nicholas Mkhwebu who was a fine gentleman. Everything with him was good. We had contracts and our pay was coming in as agreed.

Unfortunately, he died and we thought it wise to move on as we did not want to have a working relationship with his widow,” he said.

Cornelius said their next problem was to come when they were preparing to record another hit, Isantana as the Dete band members wanted to quit saying they were tired of the city life and wanted to return to their families.

He however said they managed to prolong their stay in the band until they recorded, but they left the group after a show they staged in Nyamandlovu. Thereafter, they just took a train at the station and never returned.

This affected the band and delayed the release of Isantana which was recorded in 1995, but only came out in 1996 as Khumbulani also went to his rural home. As a result, Gramma Records had a tough time getting him to correct mistakes that were made on the vocals.

They had to bring in Allard Mukwala to replace the drummer while the lead guitar was taken over by their former drummer Nelson Bhebhe who could play the guitar as well, and the journey continued.

Cornelius said the band was making a lot of money which made hiring equipment easy for them and they later got another sponsor, umama uMaGumbi from Queenspark suburb in Bulawayo.

But with all the money they were making, why did they not buy their own equipment?

“It never crossed our minds to buy our own equipment. Khumbulani never even one day spoke about buying equipment for the band. This I believe rubbed onto other band members. Everyone was just concerned about getting his money. So, till his death, Tukuye Super Sounds did not have its own equipment,” Cornelius said.

Nelson Bhebhe, the lead guitarist died in 2001 and two years later Khumbulani also died.

Outside music, Cornelius said Khumbulani loved eating meat and was a generous person who always gave away his clothes to the needy.

He said Khumbulani’s compositions were inspired by what he saw in everyday life.

“Like on the song Omama baseNyamendlovu, it came after one band member was beaten by a girlfriend from Nyamandlovu. Even on Chakanetsa, he was observing what was happening and will sing about it,” he said.

Without Khumbalani, Tukuye Super Sounds produced Siyalikhumbula in 2004, Uzwelo in 2006 and Umendo in 2007 before they took a break because of piracy. They then recorded Uzwa Njani in 2011. In 2016, Cornelius said they lost rhythmist Rabson Moyo which further compounded his situation.

“My love for music has diminished because there’re no returns and the death of my colleagues has hit me hard. Only Marko Ncube and I are remaining. I now record just to keep my name alive.”

However, Cornelius said he was in the studio recently with his album set to be released soon. He made it clear that fans should not expect albums every year from him although he can stage shows if he gets the necessary support.

“If I get support from fans, I may stage shows here and there. I cannot be full time in music because of the poor returns,” he said.

Cornelius is now working for a security company in South Africa.

The 54-year-old who enjoys traditional food, meat and amacimbi is married to Irene Ngoma and the two have four children –Miniyothabo, Langelihle, Corene, Thubelihle and Nicky. — @themkhust