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Friday, September 9, 2016

Joseph Garakara - Idya Banana (Zimbabwean music video & comments)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post presents information about Zimbabwe's Sungara music and showcase a 2005 [?] song in that genre by Joseph Garakara entitled "Idya Banana".

Selected comments from that video's discussion thread are also included in this post. Information about the Shona language is also included in this post as a note after several comments about Shona being a Bantu language.

The content of this post is presented for cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Joseph Garakara and all others who are featured in this video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT SUNGARA MUSIC
From http://www.jivezimbabwe.com/94-news/research/77-the-history-of-zimbabwean-music-pt-1.html The History of Zimbabwean Music
..."In 1948, Mura Nyakura travelled to Zaire and was influenced by the kanindo-rhumba beat there which he then introduced to Zimbabwe. It developed to be called sungura music, mainly influenced by the late Ephraim Joe and his band the Sungura Boys etc. The sungura or museve, a genre has taken over, gaining its status as the most popular music genre and easily identifiable with Zimbabwe. Almost three quarters of the musicians in Zimbabwe play this genre and it is a highly contested terrain. It is a genre which has come of age, so unique and classic, heavily influenced by the kanindo and rhumba genres which originated from East and Central Africa. Musicians who play this genre usually express the social life and hardships experienced by the people of Zimbabwe at times romance. Sungura music has evolved over the years, with various musicians who play this genre opting to give his/her own a different name, such names like Zora coined by Leonard Zhakata, Barbed wire sang by Tendai Mupfurutsa and Dendera music have been coined to different types of sungura music. Sungura music became popular in the early 1980s, pioneered by the late Ephraim Joe who formed his band the Sungura Boys composed of a team of talented musicians who later made their names in this genre."...
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/08/john-chibadura-tembo-brothers-1980s.html for an excerpt from another online article about Zimbabwe's sungara (museve) music.

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SHOWCASE VIDEO: zimbabwe music -Idya Banana

mwanawevhutich
-snip-
Selected comments from this video's discussion thread are given in relative chronological order, with the oldest comments by year given first, except for replies. I've assigned numbers for referencing purposes only.

2008
1. H JT
"what is tis music genre called? who is the artist/band? does anyone know? i am researching music from zimbabwe and i want to use this song as an example to talk about the type of sound coming from that country.Can anyone help?"

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Reply
2. Zwane D
"This music is genre is called sungura.The artist is Joseph Garakara and the supporting band is Mbama Express and the album is Tapinda Tapinda (which means we have arrived)"

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Reply
3. murumewaT
"if you check when the song starts, his name appears briefly, you can pause and write is down

I should think this is the local sungura / museve music. The dancing girls I think they come from the dancing group called mambokadzi (am not very sure)


Hope it helps"

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4. Xolani Mahlangeni
""AT .023 makaya style."

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2009
5. nyamukondiwa
"ok l like the song, but idya banana.. not sure what he means.. haha"

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Reply
6. george tabwada
"it means take it easy. pfavira chinhu. yellow yakapfekwa ne banana 50/50"

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Reply
7. Anesu Mutakiwa
"idya banana means chill or take it easy we in love"

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Reply
8. alozo19
"it is a shona song duh it doesn't mean a real banana not every word banana means the fruit banana"

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2010
9. Patricia Todd
"what is idya banana means ?? l like the dance but l dont understand the song ma1"

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Reply
10. charliie colr
"means ......."eat a banana" lol 4 real"
-snip-
"Eat a banana" is its Idya Banana's literal Shona meaning. (Google translate gives "Kudya banana"). However, as per the comments that are found above, the vernacular (slang?) meaning is something different.

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2015
11. Edmó João Sianhalo
"He is just asking to a girl to love him because he dont have words to say to her. Just love me i dont have much words to say to you."

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12. Asedri Amin Amin
"Very refreshing, sounds similar to Jaluo of Kenya, I have a feeling, this is Nilotic language in Zimbabwe! Anybody who has an idea?"

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Reply
13. Tom Nyandoro
"+Asedri Amin Amin Its Bantu"

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Reply
14. Diana Chingwara
"What do u mean its Bantu,this is Shona language"

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Reply
15. Natalia.tatendaishe
"i thought this was shona language from zimbabwe. wats bantu"

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Reply
16. Ruvimbo Murubi
"It is shona
And I am shona so I know :)"

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17. Joe Simba
"sounds kisii from kenya"
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18. Tom Nyandoro
"+Joe marko Zimbabwe hey, its a bantu language"

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Reply
19. Diana Chingwara1
"Stop saying Bantu, it's Shona language"

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Reply
20. Tom Nyandoro
"Diana you don't know Shona was coined by a white explorer, its part of the Bantu languages."

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21. Didiot Vynberber
"+Natalia.tatendaishe Bantu is the large language group supposedly spoken nearly all over Central to Southern Africa, so Shona languages, KiSwahili, Zulu, and many more, are all 'Bantu' languages.
Kind of like saying a Romance language about French, Spanish, Italian etc.
But a lot of people think 'Bantu' is incorrect politically and linguistically.


Anyway; hope that was a bit helpful, blessings, a good day etc."
-snip-
Here's some information about ChiShona (language) from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shona_language:
"Shona .... is a Bantu language, native to the Shona people of Zimbabwe. The term is also used to identify peoples who speak one of the Shona language dialects: Zezuru, Karanga, Manyika and Korekore, sometimes also Ndau. Some researchers include Kalanga: others recognise it as a language in its own right…Shona is a principal language of Zimbabwe, along with Ndebele and the official business language, English. Shona is spoken by a large percentage of the people in Zimbabwe. Other countries that host Shona language speakers include Botswana and Mozambique.

Shona is the Bantu language third most widely spoken as a native language after IsiZulu and Swahili, and the most frequent mother language. According to Ethnologue,[7] Shona, comprising the Karanga, Zezuru, and Korekore dialects, is spoken by about 10.8 million people. Manyika and Ndau dialects of Shona,[8][9][10] listed separately by Ethnologue,[11] and are spoken by 1,025,000[12] and 2,380,000[13] people, respectively. The total figure of Shona speakers is then about 14.2 million people. Zulu is the second most widely spoken Bantu language with 10.3 million speakers according to Ethnologue.[14]"

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2012
22. DJ ZAZA
"Dis is congolese style . Zimbabweans are always tryna copy of congolese music . Sn . Not tryna start beef buh its true ."

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Reply
23. M17Squad
"I DON'T THINK CONGOLESE MUSIC STARTED FIRST BUT THE MUSIC IS LEGEND IT STARTED MAKING NOISE IN 1930"

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Reply
24. Nakky Dave
"You're right. A lot of sub Saharan pop music is based on Congolese music, soukous. In Kenya it's called something else.. lingala?

But in Zimbabwean sungura the beat is different. Some Zimbabwean artists play "African rumba" but it still has other influences, R & B, etc. The original Congolese style evolved from rumba that people heard from Cuban records. And that music came from Africa so it's all good. ;)"

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25. chadane100
"Dis remind me of the brazilian samba"

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[This next comment written in response to another comment criticizing the video's dancing.]
26. iluvdng07
"i totally agree. I hardly see any authentic zim dancing."

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2011
27. bago510
"@merenguero1026 this is where the roots of all Latin American music comes from Africa including Punta Soca Calypso Cumbia Vallenato Merengue etc . even in Colombia theres a Musical style called Champeta which sounds a lot like this music . by the way i'm Central American also Salvadoreno ."

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28. Shamaine Masawi
"I just love Zim music, its naturally our own, good work guys"

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29. Trev Des
"I'm so proud of my Zim women, I'm a Zim man thru n thru! i would like to encourage my fellow Zim brothers to respect our women and stop calling them horrible names.

thank you!"

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30. Thubelihle Wellington Ncube
"this is one of the songs that defined my 2005...i still enjoy its lyrics"

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2016
31. gosaitse nfila
"I love thiis song waitse....just reminds me santse ke le ngwana hehe"

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Reply
32. Nick Sonn
"I'm assuming you are from Botswana...
Meaning this song was popular over there...
Impressive"

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33. lord future
"the girls outfits are also looking are bananas coincidence?"

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34. musa elhaji
"I love your Music Joseph Garakara they Music to me are da best, I really like that keep it up............................
like da Song Idya Banana -Wamatuka -Simbawe"

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35. Tafirenyika Lovemore Dumba
"this song was done solomon skuza and the kwejani jazz band"

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