By Fidelis Manyange 

LAST week, Wednesday, April 9, marked exactly 28 years since the death of sungura legend Leonard Dembo. 

He died in 1996. 

Dembo’s real name was Leonard Tazvivinga as opposed to Kwangwari Gwaindepi as is widely reported. 

In fact, Kwangwari Gwaindepi was his grandfather and that name never appeared on any of Dembo’s identity cards. 

At 37, Dembo had released no less than 15 albums and dozens of singles — all of them gems. By the time of his untimely death, the sungura legend had sold more records than any other local artiste. 

Dembo was, to put it mildly, an enigma whose music career was characterised by a string of unusual events, ranging from superstition, fights and to shunning media attention. 

Despite being a prolific singer and songwriter, the sungura maestro only produced two videos in his entire career, namely ‘Sharai’ and ‘Maneja’. 

One of Dembo’s avid fans, Engineer Felix Chuma, who plays no other music apart from the ‘Sharai’ hitmaker’s, has in his possession a handful of the late musician’s rare videos. In one of those videos recorded live at Mushandirapamwe Hotel, Highfield, his then three-year-old daughter Fenistia, is seen dancing to her Dad’s music while the father eggs her own with a smile. 

In another video, Dembo is seen walking with his band members and entering a restaurant in Bulawayo. Chuma and his brother once plundered the family garden in order to raise money to attend a Dembo show in Masvingo. And for their efforts, they were severely punished by their parents. 

Recalls Chuma: “Each time Dembo held a show in Masvingo town, near our home area in Chivi, many women had problems with their sons and husbands who sometimes sold maize, millet, chickens or even goats to raise money to attend his shows.” 

These rare videos are only shared among Dembo’s select fans. 

Dembo’s fans idolise him to the extent his music has become their rallying point. To this end, a WhatsApp group of his most loyal fans has been created worldwide. Thousands of fans use the platform to share tidbits on the musician’s career as well as make donations in cash and kind to his family. A case in point being the foodstuffs and other essentials donated to Dembo’s mother, the late Sukai Pasipanodya. 

On May 9 2020, for the first time in Zimbabwe’s broadcast history, a local radio station played Dembo’s music for a continuous 24 hours in honour of the ‘Chitekete’ hitmaker. 

Despite his creative genius, Dembo had his Achilles heel. For example, when he was booked as the supporting act to Jonah Moyo’s Devera Ngwena Jazz Band in his nascent years, Dembo was notorious for poor time keeping. 

“He always turned up late for shows and offered implausible excuses,” recalls Moyo. 

“One day, he was close to four hours late, turning up at around 2am for a show in Masvingo. He did not even apologise! And, as usual, he had an alibi: On his way from Chivi, he had hit a kudu and had to skin it . . .” 

In another incident, he got himself into trouble with the law after discharging a firearm to disperse a crowd which had blocked him from getting into his Toyota Cressida after a show. The fans wanted more of the Dembo magic, but he insisted there was no time for an encore. 

Since he was averse to publicity, Dembo often left the stage to ‘discipline’ anyone taking pictures or filming his show. There was also the case of a teacher from Terry Goss High School, Triangle, who was beaten to a pulp by Dembo with a guitar. His offence? The teacher had trespassed onto the stage to plead with the musician to play the immensely popular ‘Chitekete’. Police had to intervene. 

I had the privilege of watching Dembo on stage for the first time in 1992 at the Grand Hotel, in Kadoma, whilst waiting for my Ordinary Level results. The sungura legend, who had several ‘Black Power’ wristbands on both hands and a ‘retso’ cloth around his neck, was strumming his lead guitar with ease. Suddenly, at the peak of the show, some overzealous female fans started throwing their undergarments with their contacts scribbled on them onto the stage. Dembo was livid: “Hapana anomanikidzwa kuda waasingade.” 

But that did nothing to stop the ladies, one of whom taunted Dembo: “Unoshamisira neiko iwe unongoti zimhanza.” 

Dembo was superstitious to the extent he avoided venues that previously hosted Simon ‘Chopper’ Chimbetu or 

John Chibadura, whom he described as “zvigure zvakaromba”. 

At one time, he was ‘accidentally’ booked to play in Chitungwiza at a venue which had previously hosted ‘Chopper’. When he came across the remnants of the dendera maestro’s poster on the wall he immediately ordered the band to stop playing. He faked illness and left in a huff. 

Dembo’s superstitious beliefs were also at the heart of his antipathy at having videos of him taken. One of his closest friends, Raphael Makwiramiti, revealed that Dembo believed that videos exposed him to witches who would be tempted to destroy him by driving a needle into him (kumubaya netsono patelevision). 

The man was so superstitious, according to Makwiramiti, that he even suspected some of his contemporary artistes, such as the late Simon Chimbetu and John Chibadura, of possessing supernatural powers designed to derail his career. 

The ‘Nzungu Ndamenya’ hitmaker was also said to be stingy. There are allegations that after Dembo hit the jackpot from sales of the record-breaking ‘Chitekete’, he paid his Barura Express members — Kidson Madzorera, Shepherd Akim and Innocent Mujintu — ‘peanuts’. When they complained, Dembo was ruthless in his response: “Ndakapiwa nevadzimu vangu, venyu vachakupaiwo kana nguva yakwana.” 

Dembo is said to have started penning ‘Chitekete’ when he was just a 15-year-old adolescent, herding cattle in Barura Hills in Masvingo near Ngundu. 

Most of his fans believe that ‘Chitekete’ was Dembo’s best-selling album. But the truth is that ‘Mazano’, his debut album with the RTP stable after he dumped Gramma, has that honour. 

Dembo lived a comfortable life off his music. Every year in December, he took a break from music to fly to South Africa where he visited fellow musicians, such as Lucky Dube and Peter Teanet, to exchange notes on everything music. 

As it turned out, Dembo’s life was dogged with controversy, extending to his love life. The ‘Chitekete’ hitmaker was married to Eunice. But few people know that he won her heart by keeping his actual job a secret. At a time musicians were dismissed as ‘marombe’ (social outcasts), the sungura legend presented himself as an employee of a bottling company based in Harare, which he had previously worked for. Since he did not surrender his work ID on leaving the company, he successfully wooed Eunice who loved his music without mentioning that he was the now-famous musician. 

It wasn’t until Eunice’s aunt laid her hands on the album ‘Mai Nevana Wavo’ that Dembo’s cover was blown. The bride-to-be was not amused: 

“Ende baba iwawo vainyepa, uyezve waive nemashoko anotapira kana pari panyaya dzerudo,” said Eunice during an interview with Rabson Umali on ZBC National FM. 

A prolific composer, Dembo is said to have relied on his dreams. According to Eunice, Dembo used to wake up in the middle of the night to strum his guitar while singing at low pitch to avoid disturbing her sleep. He recorded these preliminary works on his Walkman. 

There is an interesting story behind the hit song ‘Vana Vane Mazita Evakuru Havatukwe’. One day his son, Morgan, named after Dembo’s father, reportedly stepped on a neighbour’s tomatoes at the market place. And for his transgression, his mother gave him a thorough beating. That was the inspiration behind the lyrics for ‘Vana Vane Mazita Evakuru Havatukwe’. 

There are also allegations that Dembo’s mother was not in good books with her daughter-in-law till she breathed her last. This love-hate relationship was immortalised in ‘Vamwene nemuroora’ in which he begs “. . . vamwene nemuroora ndapota pindai mese vhuserere”. 

Despite dwelling on family, social and romantic issues, Dembo’s earlier compositions also touched on the war of liberation, like ‘Kana Ndorangarira’ in which he mourns freedom fighters who failed to make it back home. 

With his original band, The Five Knots, Dembo recorded ‘Matsotsi’ soon after independence in 1980. As far as Dembo was concerned, the return of the comrades signalled the end of crime in the high-density suburbs. He warned, “. . . manga majaira matsotsi . . . zvino vakauya vanaMukoma vanozvigona”. 

Dembo’s bosom buddy was fellow musician Mitchell Jambo of ‘Vimbiso’ fame. Now based in Thohoyandou, South Africa, Jambo was Dembo’s backing vocalist on two of his megahits — ‘Chinyemu’ and ‘Sarura Wako’. 

Dembo reciprocated by collaborating on Mitchell’s ‘Rudo Runokosha’. 

Dembo is survived by wife Eunice and three children — Morgan, Tendai and Fenistia. 

Morgan and Tendai have joined hands to keep their father’s legacy alive, albeit with mixed fortunes. But, as they say, true legends never die. 

Those who believe in the after-life will bet their last dollar that Dembo is still churning out hit after hit from his heavenly abode. 

Meanwhile, may Dembo’s dear soul rest in peace.