THOUGH they are yet to command significant success and attention on the local music scene, sungura musician Danmore Marongedze and his Counselling Boys outfit remain hopeful to carve a niche in the cutthroat industry.
Like diamonds, they have had to go through immense pressure before they can shine, starting with the release of their debut album last year.
“In our first album Gogogoi we were trying to say please welcome us into the music industry to those already in it, it was also an appeal for support,” Marongedze — also known as Dzedze – told Standard Style.
Marongedze detailed how his musical quest began in 2007 when he was still in primary school. By the time he was in form 2 at Chapatarongo Secondary School in Nyanga district, Manicaland province, his love for music had matured and drove him to make a banjo — a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator.
“I would ask to play my banjo at school during assembly time up until I was in form four and after my ‘O’ levels, I would frequent the school with the help of my brother Crispen Dzedze who would play the drums which were made out of old pots and cattle hides,” Dzedze said.
These were the humble origins of the “Counselling Boys” and by 2014, after his secondary education, Danmore decided to grow the band with the help of his brother. He said the first step was to find a name which would be used to identify them as a band:
“Since my brother and I would perform songs that would counsel young students on how to conduct themselves we then decided to call ourselves The Counselling Boys.”
Their use of primitive equipment when they had been asked to perform a song of gratitude at a school function in 2017 attracted the attention of broadcaster Andrew Neshamba who recorded and broadcast it which led to the boys being discovered by Prophet Walter Magaya who then took them in under PHD ministries where they spent a month and half being taught how to use electric guitars and proper drums.
- The culprits are known, but untouchable, says Sikhala
- The culprits are known, but untouchable, says Sikhala
- Hebrew scriptures: Does the Bible condone slavery?
- Hebrew scriptures: Does the Bible condone slavery?
Keep Reading
“After that we were given equipment and decided to start playing professionally and in 2022, through Andrew Neshamba, we released our first album,” recalled Dzedze.
“The album, however, was not as we had anticipated which is why we decided to record another album titled Gumai Dova which will be released this July.”
In recording the seven-track Gumai Dova album, the band faced a lot of challenges with the most prevailing one being financial but they received some assistance from medical doctor and sungura fan Johannes Marisa and they are hopeful that their new album will gain much more traction than the first one.
“I listened to these guys’ songs and I realised that they are good sungura musicians, hence me chipping in to support them record and launch their album,” Marisa said.
“We are planning to have an album launch anytime this month and I promise that these guys are the next big thing in the music scene.”
Marisa has in the past assisted a number of musicians who include Tendai Dembo, First Farai, Chazezesa Challengers and Mark Ngwazi.
For Dembo, the medical doctor gave him a Mercedes Benz ML model and bought a PA system while members of Barura Express receive dfree medical services from Marisa’s Westview clinics.
