Chagumuka in COVID-19 fight

…as lockdown stalls release of new album

ITALY-BASED Zimbabwean musician Hendrix Chagumuka — son to the late legendary Robbie Chagumuka — recently released a new single, Hondo, to comfort families who lost their loved ones to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and those battling the virulent disease.

BY PHILLIP CHIDAVAENZI

The single has become like a gap-filler after the COVID-19 pandemic stalled the production of his forthcoming album, the third offering in his discography.

Hondo is an appeal to God to intervene in the fight against COVID-19, which has devastated many countries across the world including Chagumuka’s adopted home of Italy, which is among the hardest hit.

“At that time Italy, my home right now, was in deep crisis. The number of deaths was rising, numbers of infections per day were shooting. It was a mess. I mean, at some point we had more than 900 deaths in 24 hours,” he said.

“I was living in fear but fortunately none of my family members and close ones has been infected,” he said.

Chagumuka said he titled the song Hondo (war) because the efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 were no different from a war situation, albeit against an invisible enemy.

“I imagined this as if we were in war, thus hondo; a war against the invisible enemy. It is a war definitely because we are dying, people are dying. It’s real. I thought if I put it in music it might help a lot,” he said.

The musician said he chose music as his weapon of choice in the campaign against COVID-19 because it was one of the quickest and effective ways of putting messages across to the public.

“Everybody loves music. It’s one of the fastest ways to spread the word. Anybody who listens to this track will definitely understand the danger posed by COVID-19 and obviously try to be cautious by using face masks and gloves while maintaining social distance and staying indoors,” he said.

Chagumuka described the latest release as “a prayer” birthed out of the realisation that only divine intervention would be able to stop COVID-19 in its tracks.

“It is a prayer, asking God to intervene because we have exhausted all the ideas and ways to tackle the enemy. It is asking for solutions. Up to now there is no vaccine, so I guess at the moment only prayer and encouraging one another to keep safe is the only way out,” he said.

Chagumuka said when he decided on the song, Zimbabwe had not yet recorded its first COVID-19 case, but he was grateful that his countrymen regularly checked on him as they learnt of how the virus was tearing through Italy.

The developments, the musician said, inspired him to join the campaign against the disease through music.

“My home country Zimbabwe wasn’t yet officially affected by then. The moment I heard of the second death, that’s when I thought I should be part of the voices spreading the awareness. The experience I had here in Italy and the fact that my country Zimbabwe has been affected too inspired this track,” he said.

“I had a lot of messages and calls (when Italy was in flames) from people close to me and fans asking how I was coping. I take this opportunity to thank everyone who wished me well.”

Chagumuka said he had initially planned to release a single titled Muchandifunga — off his forthcoming album — as a precursor to the new album, but the COVID-19 outbreak forced him to reconsider his plans.

“This is a single (Hondo) and won’t be part of the forthcoming album. Hondo came unexpectedly. I had a single to release from the forthcoming album but that’s when the virus struck. I had already posted something on my social media handles about the upcoming single, but I realised it wasn’t the right time regarding the message it has,” he said.

Chagumuka said the new album was now ready but there was still uncertainty regarding the launch date in view of the COVID-19 lockdown.

He, however, promised it would be a good album, with producer Spencer Masango’s midas touch.