By Kennedy Nyavaya
The tale of how award-winning Afro-fusion group Fusion 5 Mangwiro came to be involved in their unwavering passion, the persistence of a music-loving locksmith in the dusty streets of Glen View and the watchful eye of determined talent scouts.
For years the trio of Brian Maguta, Gilbert Gwatidzo and Aaron Manyati had frequented Tichagarika shopping centre to fulfil their mothers’ errands, but just like other boys, they would also create time for personal escapades in between.
A major part of these activities included passing-by, albeit at different times, Archie’s workplace to sing as he strummed the acoustic.
“We would make it a point to pass-by Archie’s caravan to sing while he played the guitar and he would suggest I should meet Brian or Gilbert one day,” Manyati revealed in the group’s wide-ranging interview with Standard Style last week.
“So, it appears he would suggest to all three of us that we should meet and so it happened in 2012.”
Forming Fusion 5 Mangwiro would take an extra two years as they had met with seven other artistes trying to form a band before their special musical chemistry trimmed them into just three.
“We have always had different musical strengths and tastes in music so we decided to stay original and the fusion comes from when we mix all our sounds,” explained Maguta, adding that:
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“The digit five comes from when we perform live and use a djembe and acoustic guitar, so we treat these instruments as group members while Mangwiro is that small shaker which adds salt to everything.”
Since their first attempt at the Dream Star talent show in 2015 where they were knocked out in the regionals stage before trying again the next year finishing in the top-four, the African Woman hit makers have charmed many.
With only a few recorded singles, they have won one award from two nominations at the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) last month and had two nominations in the Star FM Music Awards that were scheduled for last night.
“The first time we were nominated it was everything, even if we had not won I would have been fine because it just shows that people are seeing what you are doing. Even those who did not believe in us started then and it really meant a lot,” said Maguta.
But, coming from humble backgrounds and raised by single mothers, it was not an easy road for the trio to get here as they have had to make risky and unpopular decisions like quitting jobs to focus full-time on music before their big break.
“The biggest challenge was that when you are a man, the family and everyone is just looking up at you and you say you are going to a show where you are not paid, but for the love of music we had to,” explained Maguta, the seeming spokesperson in this group of introverts.
“At that time people at home will be encouraging you to get a day job so you can fend for them, so the biggest challenge that we had, although our parents and close family were fine, was that support from the extended family was very minimal.”
Although boy bands struggle to stay united particularly when fame kicks in, these shared experiences of struggle and subsequent success are what the group believes will keep them glued together.
“Our split will be very hard because we have different functions in the group and everything adds to the ultimate sound, plus we did not start today although we argue here and there, when we get back home we revert back to working together,” Gwatidzo said, while Aaron added:
“We sometimes have arguments, but I discovered even after that, when we go on stage it gets back to normal. Music unites the three of us.”
Armed with high ambitions from their childhood days in the ghetto, the trio plans beyond the ability to provide for their families this year. This will see them release their debut album later this year as an initial move to extend their influence farther across the country, Africa and the entire world.
“We have more music this year and our mentor is willing to go an extra mile so that we go forward. As everyone is saying that this year is 20-plenty, it’s the same for Fusion 5 and we promise it is going to be amazing,” said Maguta as his relatively quiet colleagues nodded.
The Jacaranda Media and Culture Corporation (JCMC) signees aspire to reach and surpass the bars set by some African greats, including Mali’s Salif Keita, Cameroon’s Richard Bona and Youssou N’dour from Senegal, among others.
JCMC artistic director and handler of Fusion 5 Leonard Mapfumo said they had already started making moves towards achieving that greatness.
“There is recognition that has been coming in, we have had people from Senegal asking about Fusion 5, we have had artistes from Nigeria asking to collaborate, so they have already started touching Africa,” said Mapfumo.
“The bigger picture now is we want them to get to a position where when one thinks of African music, they think of Fusion 5 Mangwiro first.”
