CULTURE-ZIMBABWE:
Bulawayo's Old Men of Jazz
Wilson Johwa
BULAWAYO, Mar 10 (IPS) - A white-suited quartet slides onto a small stage in Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe. There’s a flash of a smile before the grey-haired men step forward, their songs matching the rhythm of their feet. The Cool Crooners are on their way to charming another audience.
The group doesn’t have age on its side like other international blues outfits – Boyz to Men, to name just one. All four of the Crooners are older than 50, and the most senior member of the group is approaching 70.
But, seeing them live is as much, if not more, of a treat for the residents of Zimbabwe’s second largest city – which doesn’t have much of a music industry. New releases from neighboring South Africa are the songs most frequently heard here. Zimbabwe’s most promising artists also aspire to live in South Africa, where fame is more likely to be followed by fortune.
The group specializes in the jazz that emerged in black urban areas – or townships – in the 1950s: music that their manager, Jackie Cahi, describes as a "fifties marriage of South African jazz, American blues and kwela." (Kwela is the name given to a type of music dominated by the sounds of the penny-whistle. It developed in the South African township of Soweto, in Johannesburg, during the 1940s and 50s.)
The story of the Cool Crooners begins in the streets and shebeens (bars) of Bulawayo’s oldest township, Makokoba, almost half a century ago. It was there, amidst the racial segregation of the then Rhodesia, that the men indulged their fancy for beer and conversation. Music was a natural and necessary accompaniment to their discussions.
The Crooners were formed by the members of earlier groups, such as the Cool 4 and the Golden Rhythm Crooners. "We started during the fifties, the early fifties, and then carried on. But as the others fell out, through death, those remaining came together and formed the Cool Crooners," explains band member Abel Sithole, 68.
Modest success in the 1950s was overshadowed by the upheaval of Zimbabwe’s liberation war and the excitement of independence in 1980. But in 1992, the surviving members of the original groups joined forces again.
Cahi, initially a fan, says she started working with them in 2001. A French filmmaker who was also a friend of hers made a film about the group called "Blue Sky". It led to the recording of the Crooners’ first album, similarly titled. Now they are getting ready to record their second, a seven-track compilation that will be distributed by Sony Epic.
"We are going to record it in France, this new album," Sithole says.
The Crooners have performed at numerous shows and festivals. Since 2001, they have toured the United States, France, Belgium, Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Botswana and South Africa. Another visit to the U.S. is planned for later this year, and they also hope to do a more extensive tour of Africa.
While on the road, the quartet is usually backed by French musicians who, says Cahi, give its music a different, richer feel. "For me it’s special that their music is still alive," she says. "It’s helping to inspire youngsters."
Cahi sees the group "carrying on for a few more years". She told IPS that before the Crooners go on stage they look frail and that a casual observer might almost expect them to nod off in the middle of one of their numbers. "But when they get on, it’s dynamite," she adds. "That keeps them young. It’s like a soccer match, an hour-and-a-half."
Nonetheless, the singers aren’t completely impervious to their advancing years. Sithole says they realise that time doesn’t stand still, which is why they’re thinking about introducing new blood.
The youngest member of the Crooners, 53-year-old Eric Juba, has been tasked with scouting for talent. Already, 75-year-old Ben ‘Pula-Pulane’ Gumbo, who is unwell, has been replaced by Timothy Sikhane – formerly of the Golden Rhythm Crooners.
Omega Sibanda, the proprietor of a recently re-opened jazz club in Bulawayo, believes the Crooners are the best of a handful of surviving jazz groups in the city. He says the Crooners are handicapped by not having a permanent backing group of their own – and ruefully adds that he also finds them unreliable: "They just don’t turn up. It’s like dealing with three year olds sometimes."
"But when they come, they are wonderful. People love them." (END/2004)
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