So, some of you might have bumped into Stumbo the song at parties. Well if you haven’t, you might be interested in how it all happened.
So my manager was visiting. We were talking about (the) cost of living in general.
I was talking about how embarrassed I was when my nieces always ask for “mari yema sweets” and half of the time I say handina. I guess I was quite emotional and emotive in the conversation.
Those who have met me in person will tell you that I am very laid back. My manager then said wadii kunyora iri song? Because of the passion I had about this specific subject. I had not thought of this.
I started to write. My writing style is quite different. I don’t take pen to paper. I play the acoustic as I sing over the melody. My manager had not witnessed the creative process at this point. So she kept on saying “nyora pasi unokanganwa.“
Stumbo take 1 was an epic fail. It seeped off raw emotion and was too heavy for my artistic style. I am more of a satirical, tongue-in-cheek, comic relief kind of guy so it strayed way too far from my comfort zone.
So I parked the project. We had very difficult conversations with my manager but we eventually agreeably disagreed.
I went on to start on my new album entitled Izvi Zvinoitirwei. The creative process for me involves spending time in these virtual streets. Ipapo Twitter yaindityisa so I spent a lot of time interacting with my fellow villagers ku Facebook.
I know @daddyhope might think otherwise but muma Facebook live imomo ndimo munobva imwe lyrical content.
So one day I am scrolling on Facebook… boom Mabamura appears on my feed.
He was saying exactly what I was failing to say in my song. At this point, my song was called House of Hunger (sorry Dambudzo). So naturally, I asked the villagers to find Mabamura.
Facebook is full of resourceful people. Within a day we found Mabamura.
He was so excited to hear I was looking for him. He sent me this heartwarming clip.
Mabamura, however, came with a warning 😂😂😂 Mukomana loves the sauce.
(I) defended him ndikati kuindustry kwedu mushonga (meaning alcohol keeps the creative juices flowing), so we arranged to meet. Chikomana travelled from Bocha with his cousin.
(We) went to meet up with him with a plastic bag of his favourite poison. But on arrival at 11 am jaya ranga ratoguta kare so he obviously didn’t need anymore. His argument was that he was anxious about the meeting so initially, he drank to relieve stress 😂.
Mabamura is a genius. My mission was to sober him up but the cousin said atori bhoo handei kustudio. You know what they say? When in Rome… So I decided, let me drink too 😂😂
We went to @Cymplex studio tiri ma drunken master zvedu 😂😂. Mabamura had never been in a studio before so hilarity ensued.😂😂 Poor Cymplex. We renamed the song, Stumbo. I remember listening to the original audio ndaitoti Stumpo zvangu nekudhakwa.
Cymplex worked his magic and Stumbo was conceived.
For the visuals, we all agreed it was going to be a dry day (meaning no alcohol) but Mabamura managed to sneak a little bit😂😂. He is naturally shy and I guess he needed Dutch courage to dance in front of a camera.
Vanhuwe coiling to a nonexistent crowd is interesting. To date my manager refuses to come to a filming set because she had a bout of incontinence achiseka 😂😂 ibasa shooting a video paya.
The making of Stumbo taught me that I can still occupy the social commentary space with satire. We all are in chase of the elusive Stumbo and the current climate is difficult for artists as well. (21)
You can listen to the song on all streaming platforms and on YouTube and let me know what you think of the finished product?
The thread has been slightly edited for clarity and readability.
