By Sindiso Dube
After being conferred the king of the music chart shows at the end of last year, with a song which was voted the best on four major radio stations, sungura star Day Tawanda Ncube, aka DT Bio Mudimba, feels let down by the radio stations.
His song Kujata-jata was crowned Number One on Radio Zimbabwe, National FM, Nyami Nyami FM and Diamond FM.
At the time of going to print yesterday, the Binga-born musician was at the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) after he was was nominated in the Song of the Year, Best New Comer and Best Sungura categories.
He was also nominated for the Song of the Year category at the 20th edition of the National Arts Merit Awards.
For all the achievements and fame following the release of Kujata-jata, Mudimba said there was nothing to write home about as he has received a wooden spoon from the four radio stations.
“I didn’t get anything for coming out as the number one on these four major radio stations,” Mudimba told Standard Style.
“I am not complaining neither did I expect anything from them, but even a phone call or a congratulatory message would have made a difference.
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“I didn’t get any call from anyone from those radio stations, who played my song throughout the year and bestowed me as the number one in the country.
“Not that I expected money or anything big, but a simple gesture like an accolade to take home would have been of sentimental value and a reminder that in the year 2021 we did well, 2021 is the year a musician from rural Binga dominated the charts.
“Just that would have made a difference, but now this history will be told by word of mouth and nothing to show off.”
Contacted for a comment ZBC head of public relations Rumbidzai Moyo said chart shows are produced to promote music and there were no commercial contractual agreements to it.
“Our national radio stations, including Radio Zimbabwe and National FM have a combined eight million listeners,” Moyo said.
“We are excited to have platforms that offer artists access to a wider audience and recognition from future sponsors.
“Our chart shows are produced to promote music and there are no contractual commercial arrangements with artists as far as payments are concerned.
“We wish DT Mudimba the best in his music career and hope he takes advantage of every opportunity that comes from being a celebrated Zimbabwean artist.”
The Kaani Stars frontman said he was happy Kujata-jata had managed to break a language and cultural gap and got people singing and dancing to Tonga lyrics.
“I am happy that the song became a hit, this is all that we wanted, to bring the nation to Binga and Matabeleland North province,” he said.
“We managed to break the cultural gap and language barrier and united the nation to dance and sing along in one accord.
“From history this is the first time an artist from a remote area such as Binga has come out and topped charts and became number one on radio.”
Kujata-jata is a Tonga word that means a person who likes to use juju.
“The song is about a family where children are having misfortunes in their careers, love lives, marriages prompting them to seek spiritual guidance from churches and they are told that there was one family member (a granny) who used juju,” Mudimba said.
“Unfortunately, she passed on and her juju is now causing bad luck for the grandchildren.”
Mudimba appreciated the support he has been getting and promised to release more music.
“We are working on upcoming projects that include videos for the songs that we did last year,” he said.
“We have many people wanting to collaborate with us after our success.
“We owe the success to everyone, who voted for us, who have been playing our music across the country.
“We are joyful and appreciate the support that we are getting and also the love that’s coming from home [Binga].”
Responding to critics, who had labelled him a one-hit wonder who won’t match the success of Kujata-jata, Mudimba said: “I didn’t even know that Kujata Jata would be that big.”
“We do music for the people and the people decide,” he said.
“I can’t tell if the next projects will match Kujata-jata, all that we are doing is cooking and we will deliver the music and the music itself will do the talking.”
