Thomas Mapfumo
| Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Mukanya, The Lion of Zimbabwe |
| Born | July 3, 1945 |
| Origin | Marondera, Southern Rhodesia |
| Genres | Chimurenga music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1961–present |
| Website | http://www.thomas-mapfumo.com/ |
Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo (born July 3, 1945) is a Zimbabwean musician known as "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" (the praise name of his clan in the Shona language) for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe. He both created and made popular Chimurenga music and his slow-moving style and distinctive voice is instantly recognisable to Zimbabweans.
Mapfumo was imprisoned without charges under the white-dominated regime of Rhodesia. He now lives in exile in the United States, and although he has occasionally returned to Zimbabwe he has not returned since 2005.
Mapfumo was born in 1945 in Marondera, Mashonaland East, a town southeast of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, though at the time the capital was called Salisbury and the country was a colony of Great Britain called Southern Rhodesia (becoming Rhodesia in ordinary usage after Northern Rhodesia gained independence as Zambia). He lived a traditional, rural Shona lifestyle until the age of ten, when his family moved to the Harare township of Mbare. It was during these early years that he was exposed to the traditional music of the Shona, the influence of which would drive his later music to incorporate and/or reflect the sounds of the ngoma drum and the mbira, a metal-pronged instrument with spiritual importance.
He joined his first band, the Zutu Brothers (Encyclopædia Britannica says it was the Cyclones), as a singer at the age of 16. From then he was always in one band or another, sometimes doing odd jobs on the side as well, including chicken farming. Hence the name of his 1972 band, the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band.
He played mostly covers of American rock and soul tunes, such as Otis Redding or Elvis Presley, until he was in the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band. There he introduced the innovation of adapting traditional Shona music to modern rock instrumentation.
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