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Wednesday, October 21, 2015 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Bringing African music to The Belfry
Legendary Zimbabwean
musician Thomas Mapfumo
will come to Sisters for an
evening of music on Friday,
October 23 at The Belfry.
Mapfumo is known for
his mbira-infused music
that echoes the struggles of
the people of Zimbabwe.
He has performed his own
Chimurenga music around
the world since the 1970s,
forming his group Blacks
Unlimited in 1978 and con-
tinuing a storied career
through over four decades.
T h o m a s Ta f i r e n y i k a
“Mukanya” Mapfumo
was born in Marondera,
Zimbabwe, in 1945. His early
childhood moments, saw him
tapping traditional music and
instruments (ngoma, hosho
and mbira) from his grandpar-
ents who were avid musicians
in the village. Unbeknownst
to him, that early stage set-
up underlined with innocence
would describe his future
music career and earn him
global fame. Around 1973
Mapfumo joined his first
group, the Hallelujah Chicken
Band in Mhangura, a small
mining town. Initially, he sang
in English but quickly spot-
ted a need to express himself
in vernacular and please his
local fans. That way, he would
LETTERS
Continued from page 2
As in many cases, the answer is somewhere between the
extremes.
James J. MacAfee
s
photo provided
Thomas Mapfumo brings his Chimurenga music to The Belfry.
also spread consciousness and
the call for freedom. He had a
brief stint with the Hallelujah
Chicken Band before joining
with others to form the Acid
Band. Realizing a need for
seriously pursuing his own
Chimurenga music genre,
he then founded the Blacks
Unlimited around 1978.
By then, Chimurenga
music had morphed into a
symbol for the struggle in
war-torn Rhodesia. Through
that music banner, he con-
tinued to taunt the colonial
regime, denouncing poverty
while advocating for freedom.
When Zimbabwe became
independent in 1980,
Mapfumo shared the celebra-
tions stage in Rufaro Stadium
with the Jamaican reggae
legend Bob Marley, opening
more doors to international
fame and recording opportu-
nities in London.
Corruption, grinding pov-
erty, and the decaying rule
of law blighted a promising
Zimbabwe, saddening hope-
ful masses and inevitably
pushing Mapfumo to com-
pose more lyrics as missiles
for protest against his own
government. The same music
censorship characteristics of
colonial Rhodesia also visited
Mukanya upon his release of
the “Corruption” album in
independent Zimbabwe. In
2000, he relocated to the USA
and continued with his music.
Doors open at 7 p.m.; show
starts at 8 p.m. Tickets can be
purchased at bendticket.com.
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To the Editor:
At Thursday’s council meeting my husband — Mayor
Chris Frye — brought up the issue of Columbus Day and how
we celebrate it. While this issue hits close to home for us,
myself being half Native American, issues of social justice are
much bigger than ourselves.
Chris brought to light the injustice of both the namesake
and ideals we celebrate in honor of a man who supported
rape, torture, enslavement and murder of countless innocent
people for profit, because he considered them an inferior
race.
I was shocked to hear most councilors felt this was not an
important enough issue to warrant further discussion. While
I was not surprised that a council so absent of diversity had
trouble understanding the complexities of a minority view-
point I was disappointed at the distinct lack of effort to even
try.
The thing that really horrified me was that one councilor
went so far as to question what kind of message tackling this
issue would send to people wanting to move or do business
here in Sisters. What message is the councilor worried we will
send by joining the ever-growing number of cities to do away
with a celebration of greed, cultural intolerance and brutality
and instead celebrate Indigenous People’s Day?
Let Sisters send a message that we care about the cultural
diversity within our community — however small that num-
ber may be — and that we understand the disservice we do
to ourselves and our children, no matter their ethnicity, when
we celebrate a day that so clearly goes against the values of
equality, justice, and liberty that this country was founded on
but so rarely in history got right.
Peggy Frye
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