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Is Harare Matabeleland’s Yardstick for Quality Music?

S'khosana Buhlungu's single, Dlala Ntethe has been breaking the Internet; sparking debates on social media.


BY THABANI H. MOYO | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | SEPT 6, 2021

Dlala Ntethe has taken social media by storm and drawn the attention of critics and praisers alike, but what standards are being used to critic the music?, asks Thabani H. Moyo.


BULAWAYO (The Citizen Bulletin) — In recent weeks, a musician from Nkayi, Skhosana Buhlungu, has been breaking the internet with his latest offering—Ntethe.

The song which has a video that features children has sparked fierce debate on various social media platforms.


There are some quarters within the creative sector that suddenly rose from the grave, sharpened their swords and complained that Ntethe is poor music.


The complaints went even further to highlight that promoters and media houses mainly based in Harare have their reservations with the song.

The complaints, genuine or misplaced, raises one fundamental issue we seek to tackle in this instalment—is Zimbabwean art measured through Harare standards?

The smash hit Ntethe has basic 'playful ' isiNdebele lyrics which resonate with the regional populace and huge pockets of the Diaspora community as shown by YouTube viewership patterns.

As we have highlighted, critics claim the song is of poor standard and we find this very problematic. Problematic in the sense that it does not meet expectations from other regions hence it should be crushed.

To us this is fundamental in that it sheds light on why most artworks that do not speak to 'Shona' expectations are shunned by national radio and television stations. Surely over the years we have heard and watched horrendous songs and films from up north getting much airplay and rave reviews.


This sounds like serious cultural colonisation of minority cultures by the dominant Shona culture.


This feeds to a long-held belief that if someone from the Matabeleland region wants to make it in their field they will have to relocate to Harare. The Matabeleland region in this regard is to be reduced into a training ground. This phenomenon can be located in each and every artistic genre.

Many young artists from Matabeleland who sing, not only in isiNdebele, but in other languages such as Kalanga, Sotho and Venda have relocated to Harare in the belief that the grass is greener there than it is in their own regions.

Nothing can better demonstrate how marginalised and dominated Matabeleland artists are.


It is unfortunate that whoever raises this issue is seen as tribalist and regionalist.


It is not farfetched to say that any artistic work from Matabeleland seems not to fit in national events. Matabeleland artists using mainly Ndebele language at national events have found it difficult to present their works because of unappreciative crowds who dismiss their works based on language.

During national events artists from Matabeleland are sometimes insulted or pelted. Renowned musician Jeys Marabini is a classic example.  A few years ago he was given a torrid time at National Sports Stadium as he sang in isiNdebele.

This trend that Matabeleland artists who do their works in their language are not welcome has even been demonstrated at National Arts Merit Awards.


It appears that during these awards artists from Matabeleland are there to make up numbers.


The area of television drama, local films and theatre have been dominated by works that are produced in Harare and sometimes not because those works are of better standard but because of their Shona cultural background.

It is very rare for an art product that is fully made of Matabeleland dominated languages to make a mark at national level unless it is translated into English so as to accommodate our Shona brothers and sisters.  

In Zimbabwe there is now what can be called 'Shona privilege'. There is an unwritten law that the Shona language is the commercial and office language. There is serious cultural dominance in the world of business and commerce.

It is common these days to hear a business conversation between two black Zimbabweans in English and Shona because one cannot understand Ndebele, Sotho, Venda and Tonga etc. This undeclared Shona domination over other cultures has affected the creative sector in a big way.

This has seen artists from the region repackaging their works to meet the minimum requirements of Shona standards. Some Matabeleland artists have forced themselves to collaborate with Shona artists as a way of seeking national relevance.

Some have even gone on to do code switching to qualify in the Shona matrix.

However, it would be a tragedy for Matabeleland artists to 100% dismiss Skhosana's criticism. We need to take positives and improve our craft.


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The recently said complaints by Harare promoters and some media houses , if true or even implied, can be viewed in the context of Skhosana’s song being sung in Ndebele and hence not appealing to the dominant Shona culture.

When Skhosana’s critics observed his song getting more and more hits on YouTube yet not conforming to the demands of a dominating culture they had to raise a red flag as they were convinced the views were rigged.

How was it possible that a song by a man from deep rural Nkayi was getting so much attention? This then needed to be attended to. To them Skhosana is in a way disrupting the norm and the domination of Shona musicians with his bad music.

It is problematic to have ‘people from Harare’ complaining about Skhosana’s song while people from the region are enjoying it. Whether these individuals from Harare are real or imagined their mention shows a deep-seated problem of Harare dominating anything coming from any region.

Who are these people complaining about music that was never meant for their consumption?  What measurement standards are these people using to say songs from Matabeleland are not good when they want us to believe that they hardly understand the language?


Why must Matabeleland always live in the shadow of Harare?


It is time Matabeleland as a region learnt how to support their artists without listening to those from Harare.

It is time that artists from the region learnt to shake off the shadow of Harare and enjoyed their cultural products without fear of being criticised by experts from outside. The way we view things as a region must be independent and not influenced by outsiders.

When those from Harare don’t appreciate our products, we must not care because the products were never meant for them but for people who appreciate, hear, see and feel the beauty of our art.

The fact that political and economic power resides within the Shona majority must not make people from the region feel inferior by being themselves and celebrating their culture through their arts.  

So, we say, dlala Ntethe dlala….