THE name Transit Crew dates back to December 1987 when the original band which comprised drummer Munya Brown (former Misty-in Roots), Tendai Gamure, aka Culture T, and Emmanuel Frank, both on vocals, Munyaradzi Nyemba on bass, Samaita Zindi on guitar, Themba Jacobs on guitar and Anthony Amon on keyboards got together.
By Fred Zindi
Themba Jacobs left the band in 1994 when South Africa achieved independence and went to work for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) as a reporter.
Two of the original members, Culture T and Munya Nyemba have since passed on, leaving the present Transit Crew with Liba Amon and Samaita Zindi as the remaining members of the original crew.
After the release of the single, Zimbabwean Girl in 1990, a successful tour of Tokyo, Japan, followed. The tour was meant to last just six weeks but the band got so popular with the Japanese youth who all chanted “Jah Rastafari” and the tour had to be extended by a further 20 weeks.
In the early 1990’s after their return from Japan, Transit Crew were joined by Reggae Dunhill as the lead singer and became the main support act for Jamaican artistes who visited Zimbabwe, such as Culture, Dennis Brown, Ijahman Levi, Eric Donaldson and Shabba Ranks.
They were also the backing band for British-based reggae artiste Benjamin Zephania in the late 1990s.
The outfit also performed with the late South African Reggae icon, Lucky Dube, at the Macufe Festival in Bloemfontein before he was slain in Johannesburg in 2008.
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In the same year, Transit Crew became the backing band for visiting Jamaican singer, Luciano, in Zimbabwe and on March 1, 2010, they successfully backed Sizzla Kalonje during his farewell party. On November 27 and December 4, 2010, The Spillway venue at Lake Chivero in Harare and Pamuzinda were respectively set ablaze by British-based Jamaican artiste, King Sounds, on his visit to Zimbabwe. He was backed by Transit Crew with help from three female backing vocalists, Hope Masike, Thanda Richardson and Vimbai Zimuto with three men from the police band on the brass section.
King Sounds was impressed by the band.
In his own words, he had this to say, “I never thought there was a band in Africa which plays reggae just like the Jamaicans do. At first I was reluctant to come to Zimbabwe without my own band but after seeing the budget Biscuit (Dr Obadiah Moyo) gave us, I took a chance and agreed to come without them. This way, I saved the promoter a lot of money by agreeing to be backed by a Zimbabwean band, but it was worth it. I am impressed by Transit Crew.”
This week, on Saturday December 2, the band will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a gigantic musical reunion, a highlight of its happy, humorous, and impressive history.
It will also launch its 5th album, Zimbabwean Girls, at Ambassador Hotel in Harare and will be supported by Sound House, a reggae outfit from Glen Norah.
Many of the musicians, who will play in the reunion, are those who have been responsible for establishing the band’s unique position in the Zimbabwean community and its fame throughout the country.
Although beset by financial worries and splits in the past in its effort to re-establish itself, the group has always managed to entertain its audiences.
Today’s Transit Crew members consist of drummer Adam Muchenje, Anthony Amon on keyboard, Samaita Zindi on guitar, Master Pablo Nakappa on bass, Learnmore Mhlanga on keyboard and a new vocalist, Tawanda Mandirahwe, popularly known as Destiny.
This union has resulted in the production of Zimbabwean Girls which is derived from the 1990 single with the same title.
Previously the band’s albums Sounds Playing, The Message and Money were well received nationally and internationally and helped to establish Transit Crew as a formidable reggae outfit.
The last album by the band titled Unity was released in 2009. This eleven track album, which is solidly deep roots rock reggae with one instrumental track featuring Mono Mukundu, a Zimbabwean guitar icon and producer, has captured the hearts of many reggae lovers.
It has taken Transit Crew many years before the release of a new album due to the long search for both original music and the right voices to fit in it.
A lot of people have been wondering why a band which has been in existence for three decades has only released five albums.
The band took a hiatus in album release between 2000 and 2009. Since 2008 the band has been fronted by Mic Inity followed by Rungano Chaza, Solomon Tok (Rutsman Spice), Mannex Motsi, Cello Culture and Geoffrey Sithole (J Farai).
In 2009, the band decided to release Unity, the album which featured Motsi, Chaza (whose composition Muti became phenomenal) and J Farai.
This year the band recruited Destiny and went into the recording studio straight away which resulted in the release of Zimbabwean Girls which is playing on all media platforms.
The album is dedicated to all the fallen music heroes who include Culture T, Nyemba and Comrade “Chinx” Chingaira.
These three and many other late musicians are featured on track 2 of the album, Tsuri Yorira.
The album has been boosted by the input from students at the Zimbabwe College of Music.
These are namely Tirivashe Zambuko and Florence Muteta both play the saxophone while Theophilus Chitanda plays the trumpet with Precious Mapurisa supplying additional voice.
So, it is skanking time for all reggae lovers once more as we celebrate the coming in of a new era.
