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Bongani Ndlovu
GORDON Taurai Nzira, a self-taught gospel artiste who has seen it all and made a name for himself in the local gospel scene, is in the country to promote Yadah Praise’s 11-track gospel album Thanksgiving Concert.

Yadah Praise is an 18-member Zimbabwe Assemblies of God Africa, Forward in Faith, (Zaoga FIF) International Ministries South Africa branch gospel group and Nzira was the music director of the live recording.

The album is a live DVD and CD gospel album recorded at the Victory Theatre in Johannesburg and was released on 15 May.

The Nketa-born Nzira made a contribution to the album through the song Let God be God. The song was written by Pastor Erasmus Mutambira who wrote popular gospel tune, Alpha and Omega.

Nzira had been off the local gospel musical radar since 2008 when he made the great trek to South Africa due to the economic situation in the country.

However, when he went to South Africa he did not leave his musical career as Nzira was employed as a music director. In 2010 Nzira married Nandipa and the couple has a nine-month-old daughter.

Saturday Leisure spoke to Nzira who said the album was inspired by words of wisdom by head of their church Professor Ezekiel Guti who declared that 2012 was A Year of Thanksgiving.

“I am in the country to promote the album that was recorded live in South Africa. It was recorded at the Victory Theatre in Johannesburg in front of a live audience,” said Nzira.

He said the lead instrument was a saxophone that gave the album a jazz feel especially the slow tempo songs.

“Our lead instrument is the saxophone so this will give some of the songs a jazzy feel, some of them are soulful. The songs are driven by the desire to preach the word of God and help people grow spiritually,” said Nzira.

He said the album was mastered by Papi Diretse, a renowned engineer at Down Town Studios, home of famous South African musicians.

“The studios where the album was mastered and mixed are home to the likes of Thandiswa Mazwai, Simphiwe Dana and the late Lucky Dube. They have all recorded their albums there and Papi Diretse has worked with them, so we decided to do the same,” said Nzira.

He said the album was multi-lingual and had slow and medium tempo tracks that gave praise to God.
“There are tracks in IsiZulu, SeTswana, SeSotho and English to praise God. They are medium and slow tempo songs that minister to the soul. In future we will include Shona songs,” said Nzira.

He said the group was planning to stage a show in Zimbabwe in Harare.

“We want to come to Zimbabwe and stage a show, later on in the year. The show will be held in Harare. After that we shall tour one or two Southern African countries that will be for next year,” said Nzira.

He said the album would be available from Zaoga FiF provincial offices as from next week and urged people to go and grab a copy.

Turning to the local gospel music scene in Bulawayo he said there were many talented musicians that did not record albums.

Nzira said the main problem was fear of the unknown and urged fellow musicians to overcome their fears and record music.

“There are a few notable gospel musicians from Bulawayo, but I was born and bred here. I used to sing at church and I have met people with wonderful voices, but they do not pursue music. They are afraid of the unknown, but if you are singing to minister to people then you should sit down and seek the Lord and God will bless you,” said Nzira.

He said he was studying music and would later on in the year release his solo album.

Nzira, who was one of the pioneers of Zim Praise, an inter-denominational praise and worship group, released a second album Impilo Yami in 2007. In the same year he worked with Bethen Pasinawako in Ishe ndoda and Stanley Gwanzura, popularly known as Pastor G on the track Turura.

Nzira has also worked with other artistes such as Otis Ngwabi in 2005 on Izenzo Zakho, Sanii Makhalima and Pastor Prince Mafukidze.

Sebastian Magacha described working with Nzira as a blessing as he had learnt a lot from him.

He said Nzira had been supportive all through his musical career and owed his success to him.

“Taurai is not only a gifted musician, but a mentor to me, as I have learnt a lot from him. Taurai would back me when I went on stage and I would do the same when he was on stage, such is the man,” said Magacha.

He said Nzira guided him from when he started his career in music and everyday was a learning curve.

“I learnt how to be confident when I am on stage. It all made sense when we performed together in Pretoria in 2008 in front of a big audience. He was there to support me,” said Magacha.