‘I’m a product of this transformation’

Dropping out of school can derail many plans for a pupil, and many have given up on life after failing to raise enough fees and feeling it was the end of the road for them.  It takes a person with a drive, a greater vision to weather the storm and still pursue their dreams, in spite of the setback, or the detour that fate would have sent them on.

Such is the story of Day Tawanda Ncube, also known as Bio Mudimba, a prison officer based at Ntabazinduna Training School, who always had his sights set on a music career. Even as a school dropout, he still held on to the dream.

He eventually rose to stardom in the music industry after being offered an opportunity by the transformation of the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service. The transformation of Zimbabwe Prisons Service into a correctional institute in 2013, has also seen correctional officers being afforded opportunities to exhibit their talent on different media platforms.

This affords members of the community a chance to have a full appreciation of rehabilitation activities taking place behind the walls.

Bio Mudimba, as he is known by his legion of fans, has dominated different radio stations music charts with his single titled Kujata Jata (Kubatabata mishonga/Ukubambabamba imithi).

A B-Metro news crew last week visited the musician at Ntabazinduna Training School, where he was performing at a passout parade and he had a lot to share about his musical journey.

In an interview, Mudimba said that being a musician was an inborn talent that he discovered when he started composing some of his songs during his primary level education at Kalungwizi primary school under Chief Siabuwa.

“The issue of composing music is something that I started when I was still doing my primary level education and by then, I think I was in grade six and a lot of people could not believe that I was behind the composition of all the songs that I used to sing.

“All the compositions that I penned then were mainly coming to me as dreams so I would later translate that into music some of which is yet to be recorded.

“In composing these songs, I discovered that I was actually perfecting my skill of placing the lyrics in a song and I would like to admit that it was not an easy task,” he said.

Soon after completing his primary education, Mudimba said his mother suggested that he should proceed to Manyoni High School for his secondary education.

The musician said while at the school, he met pupils with a similar passion, thus they ended up forming their own band.

“Soon after completing my primary education my mother discovered that I had a lot of potential so she suggested that I enrol with Manyoni High School for my secondary education.

“This move actually helped me a lot in terms of improving my musical career.

“My uncle who was known as a mbira guru in our community concurred with my mother’s suggestion as it was well known that this school was producing the best pupils in different fields.

“When I got to school, I met pupils whom we had the same vision in terms and in our interactions and we decided to form our own band as a platform to perfect our skills,” he said.

The Kujata Jata hit maker said their school band was made up of the most talented artistes such that, they ended up providing entertainment to fellow pupils and members of the surrounding community.

The live performances they staged in front of other pupils went a long way in boosting their confidence.

“These live performances that we staged at different platforms while still at school went a long way towards boosting our confidence and at the same time we got the exposure to play almost all the instruments.

“This exposure encouraged most of these band members to dream of leading their own groups as they had all the necessary skills to compete in the music industry,” he said.

Mudimba said when he was in his final year, his mother died and this forced him to drop out of school before he could sit for his final examinations due to lack of funds.

“I was forced to drop out of school, when I was in Form Six as my mother who was our family breadwinner at that time had passed on. This left me with no option but to start hunting for a better job that could help me sustain my siblings, who were now looking up to me for almost everything.

“Soon after dropping out of school, I worked with a number of musical groups as a bass and rhythm guitarist.

“I worked with these groups because I wanted to raise funds for self-sustenance as I wanted to enrol with a local teachers’ college,” he said.

Mudimba said in 2013, he got an opportunity to apply for training at the ZPCS. After the interviews, he was shortlisted to undergo a six months training to be a correctional officer.

“Before I joined ZPCS I used to tell a lot of people that I wanted to be a teacher as I knew that I would have enough time to focus on my musical career.

When I saw the advert that had been flighted by prisons I told one of my friends about it and I was urged to apply as I could be offered that opportunity to pursue my musical career,” he said.

The musician said soon after completing his six months training he was deployed to Mlondolozi Prison, where he worked for seven months before he could be re-deployed to Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service band, which is based at Ntabazinduna Training School.

“When I moved to the prison band I immediately started working on my personal projects as I engaged session musicians to start rehearsing in preparation to record my first project Kujata Jata and I honestly never thought I was working on a hit song that would dominate all the local radio stations.

“On this single I decided to fuse Shona and Tonga so as to broaden my music fan base and that made me more popular and as we speak the second single called Amai naBaba is also doing very well on the local radio station competitions.

“The ability to fuse local languages in my music has actually seen some of my fans calling me the African Man,” he said.

Mudimba said at the moment he was struggling to stage live shows across the country due to non-availability of instruments since he is a new kid on the block.

“It is every musician’s wish to stage live shows across the country but in my case I don’t have the instruments that are required to make up a full band. So at the moment we are still working towards raising funds required to procure these items.

“I only have three guitars so far and we still need a lot of accessories to have a complete band.

“So, I am appealing to my fans out there who are willing to come forward and assist in the procurement of the other instruments so that we can start having those live shows,” he said.

The musician said he was thankful for the support he was getting from his fans and for the festive season they should expect a video of the hit song Kujata jata and it is expected to be on the market in the first week of December 2021.

“I have got good news for all my fans as we speak, we are already working on the video for Kujata Jata and they should expect it to be ready by first week of December.

“On this video I am going to carry the Binga community so that my fans can have a full appreciation of the community where I come from,”he said.

Mudimba said Kujata Jata is a song that is meant to discourage people who believe in using juju to be successful without considering the after effects that are going to be brought by the use of this juju to family members and friends.

“Skimbo is a nickname that we used to give those people who like short cuts in life and these people usually like the use of juju to be successful so Kujata Jata is a song meant to discourage people out there to stop the life of being Skimbo.

“To my fans I would like to thank you once again and I would like to urge you to continue supporting us as more projects are in the pipeline just for you to enjoy,” said the African Man.

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