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Sikhumbuzo Moyo, [email protected]

“BECAUSE I was never satisfied with what we could have been doing as Montana Ray, I would go back to Hlanganani to listen to other musicians. That’s when I found out that some people who went there craved an African sound. As Montana Ray we were mainly playing the blues, jazz, rock and other American styles. So I was wondering how I could cater to those people who didn’t want those American styles. That is when I met Leonard Dembo.”

This was jazz musician Hudson Simbarashe telling Sunday News’ Bruce Ndlovu during an interview that our sister publication ran in April 2019.

Leonard Dembo

A musical icon in his own right, Simbarashe, in the interview said that the late great Dembo lived three houses away from theirs in Bulawayo’s Sizinda suburb. They were both teenagers with a passion for music.

In Dembo, Simbarashe had met a man who was in search of his own identity in music and together they would try to find a sound that could blend Montana Ray’s staple of jazz, blues Hand rock with local languages that seemed — initially at odds with those alien genres.

“He was also, like me, still a teenager back then. He was already a very good writer of Shona lyrics at that age. So what we would do was that we would go and connect our instruments and we would play blues, jazz and rock songs. As we were playing, Leonard would sit down and come up with a Shona version of whatever we had been playing and people would love that.

“Then at the same venue, we discovered a guy called Legion and he would play music that sounded like mbaqanga. So we would end up playing a Shona, English and Ndebele song all at once. So we formed one group. Later on, we were joined by Jonah Mutuma. He was from Mpopoma but he would come all the way to Sizinda and he took over the vocals because he was a rock singer.

Nobuhle Virgie

“With Leonard Dembo music was an everyday thing. When someone lives three houses from you, it means I could even shout his name from my house and he would respond. I would just shout Lenny! Lenny! Because that’s what we called him and he would say, let’s go. We would then just go and play music because at the time it was all purely about music. This happened until he got to Harare,” Simbarashe said.

As one of the oldest suburbs in the city which mainly housed National Railways of Zimbabwe workers, most of whom are of Malawian or Zambian origin, the suburb has had its fair share of iconic figures mainly in the sporting sphere, particularly football.

Master Masiku

The suburb was named after one of the Ndebele regimental villages called iSizinda, at one time iSizinda village was stationed where the present township is located.

In the suburb, Master Masiku, a former player for the Railstars, Highlanders, and national team, as well as his younger brother Mtewa Masiku, are well-known individuals. The other two siblings, Elson and the late Trevor Phiri, both former players for the Njube Sundowns are also well-known. Elson also played for Dynamos. 

Sanangurayi Mushove

Pride ‘‘Sjankala’’ Zireni, the bad boy of Zimbabwean football, is a Sizinda boy. He played for Quelaton, Chicken Inn, and briefly Bulawayo City before being kicked out by Amakhosi for misbehaviour.

South Africa-based philanthropist, Nomusa Virgie who runs a humanitarian organisation — Nomusa Virgie Foundation which helps to feed homeless people particularly Zimbabweans who roam the streets of Johannesburg — is from Sizinda.

Saturday Chronicle news editor Stanley Chiwanga, an unapologetic Dynamos and Manchester United fan, is a proud son of Sizinda.

Pride ZirenI

Player manager and popular figure in football matches especially in Luveve and Barbourfields Stadiums, Sanangurayi Mushove, a staunch Arsenal fan, hails from Sizinda.