GANGO is Shona for a frying or roasting clay pot or pan which was traditionally an important utensil used to roast corn, groundnuts, monkey nuts or meat.
In urban lingo, gango is a meat frying pan used at beer drinking spots. Various types of meat are roasted including chicken, offals, beef and are mixed with vegetables and served with sadza or any form of desired starch.
For friends and business partners Diana Vito, Chenai, Rumbidzai Dunduru and Francis Muzofa, the book is not limited to a variety of ballads, sonnets, lyrics, prose it other types of poems and extends to the traditional and modernised scope of cultural restoration and social commentary. Gango Musanganiswa weNhetembo is a mixed poetry collection and the anthology is rich in self-expression, probing cultural identity, empathy, idea generation and teaching of many life values that encourage social cohesion.
Dunduru, who co-ordinated the composition of Gango Musanganiswa weNhetembo, described the book as a leisurely read with poetry spanning across various life experiences, interpersonal dynamics and societal issues intertwined in this poetic pot. The book was uploaded on various social media platforms including the Amazon and other online booksellers.
Dunduru is an accountant and public health student based in Melbourne, Australia. Vito is a creative with a reputation as a baker, caterer, design and décor artist including managing artist. Muzofa (aka @Pope) is a Zimbabwean technician by profession, poet by birth and prince by blood who is based in Namibia. He has published both locally and internationally via different platforms that include, newspaper, magazines, journals and anthologies. He is a philosophical poet who enjoys humour and allegory in most of his writings. His favourite writing themes include gender, health, climate and nature. This is Dunduru’s second poetry collection. In her inaugural edition, she dedicates a poem to Vito.
“My taste in poetry reflects the dynamic experiences of life, joys, struggles and celebrations. The essence is that shared experiences are often incomplete without communal enjoyment,” Dunduru told NewsDay Life & Style.
“Beyond health, my poetry addresses issues such as inequality, environmental sustainability, mental health awareness, GBV and social justice. I aim to inspire change and empathy across diverse societal challenges.
Poetry allows me to explore human resilience and the interconnectedness of our lives on a global scale, showing how collective action and introspection can transform lives.”
Gango Musanganiswa weNhetembo embraces several concepts of philosophy like that of Confucius who praised the social role of poetry and its ability to express emotions, observe society and plenty other achievements. It is widely alleged that Confucius perceived poetry as a body of knowledge which had social roles which included and were not restricted to expressing emotions, observing society, making friends, advising the king and honouring parents. Confucius selected and edited 300 poems for The Book of Poetry, all of which were lyrics with musical accompaniments. In similar manner, Dunduru, Muzofa and Vito are musicians in their own right and work closely with Harare based musical outfit,Yehofi. At one time Yehofi played a musical accompaniment Dunduru's written poems in the book Dudu Muduri.
The trio toasts its poems in both antiquated verbose phrases and modern colloquial language while it retains a great sense of humour. More so its desire to promote local languages is visualised in its blend of Shona and English poems including borrowed statements from Chichewa. ln the Gango Anthology, the duo tackle issues on health and well-being like parental care, COVID-19, education, the importance of readership and developing a sense of pride and cultural identity. Poems like Christmas, Dearest WHO, Letter to the Headmaster, More Radio Please, House of Stone, Chigutiro (In satisfaction), Nhasi Torumbidza, among others, make Gango Musanganiswa Wenhetembo highly didactive and inclusive and consequently it is suitable for school and public readership.
“We are in a learning phase and we are looking forward to entertain all communities in Zimbabwe through quality expressions adopted from the various languages in Zimbabwe and Africa at large. This alone will enable us to be champions of literacy and social cohesion,” Dunduru said.
“I would like to thank all our readers for their unwavering support and urge them to invite more readership for our latest highly inclusive poetry book Gango Musanganiswa weNhetembo.”