{{Short description|Zimbabwean musician (1957–1999)}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = John Chibadura | birth_name = Enoch Nyamukokoko | alias = Mr Chitungwiza | image = | caption = | landscape = | background = person | birth_date = {{birth date|1957|02|17|df=y}} | death_date = {{death date|1999|08|04|df=y}} (aged 42) | origin = | genre = museve{{r|chikowero}} reggae,{{r|zimdancehall}} rumba,{{r|allmusic-tembo}} sungura{{r|sungura-queens}} | years_active = 1980–1999 | label = | website = }} '''John Chibadura''' (1957–1999) was a Zimbabwean guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a member of pioneering sungura group The Sungura Boys, and found great success in Zimbabwe and Mozambique with his band The Tembo Brothers and as a solo artist.
==Early life== Chibadura was born John Nyamukokoko on 17 February 1957 in Bindura District, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe).{{r|independent}} Chibadura's parents were migrant workers from Mozambique, and his mother died in 1962.{{r|zindi}} His father remarried, and Chibadura's stepmother had him live with his grandfather, who played the mbira.{{r|zindi}} As a child Chibadura took care of his father's goats, and on finishing school he worked as a truck driver.{{r|allmusic-john}}
==Musical career== Chibadura began learning banjo in 1968.{{r|zindi}} In 1980 he moved to Harare, where he lived in the town of Chitungwiza that later gave him his nickname "Mr Chitungwiza".{{r|allmusic-john|zindi}} In Harare he joined Ephraim Joe's band the Sungura Boys as lead singer, appearing on the album ''John and The Sungura Boys'' in 1984.{{r|perman}} Nhamo Anthony Mhiripiri writes that "The Sungura Boys...is generally thought to be the first 'institution' of sungura music that nurtured and developed most future sungura stars including John Chibadura".{{r|sungura-queens}} Chibadura's band the Tembo Brothers, formed in 1985, were one of the most successful Zimbabwean rumba bands of the 1980s and 90s, and toured the UK twice.{{r|allmusic-tembo|rough}} They were also extremely popular in Mozambique, where they played to crowds of 40 thousand people and met Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano several times.{{r|zindi}}
In the 1990s Chibadura became ill and had to mortgage his property and sell his possessions to pay for treatment.{{r|chikowero}} He died on 4 August 1999, aged 42, and received a pauper's funeral.{{r|zimbabwean|chikowero}}
===Musical style and themes=== Chibadura is primarily remembered as a player of sungura and, with his band the Tembo Brothers, of Congolese rumba.{{r|zimdancehall|allmusic-tembo}} However Chibadura also incorporated traditional Zimbabwean music into his sound, making use of indigenous Shona drumming and mbira on tracks like "'Baya WaBaya" and "Nhamo Yatakawona",{{r|perman}} as well as recording music in the genre of museve.{{r|chikowero}} In the 1980s and 1990s Chibadura recorded several reggae songs, some of which were compiled and released together in 2004.{{r|zimdancehall}}
Chibadura is known for his "intense voice and achingly poignant lyrics," with themes of "downbeat misery: broken families, excessive dowries, [and] wasted opportunities."{{r|allmusic-tembo}} His 1988 song "Zuva Rekufa Kwangu" (The Day I am Going to Die) includes the lyric "my God, I want to know the day of my death."{{r|zimdancehall2}}
==Discography== ;Albums * ''John and The Sungura Boys'' (1984, Gramma Records), cassette release with The Sungura Boys{{r|perman}}
;Compilations * ''The Best of John Chibadura'' (1986, Zimbabwe Music Corporation){{r|christgau}} * ''The Greatest Reggae Hits'' (2004){{r|zimdancehall}}
==References== <references>
<ref name=chikowero>{{citation |doi=10.1080/18125980701754637 |title=The state and music policy in post-colonial Zimbabwe, 1980–2000 |journal=Muziki |publisher=Routledge |volume=4 |number=1 |year=2007 |pages=111–128 |author=Moses Chikowero}}</ref>
<ref name=zindi>{{citation |url=https://nehandaradio.com/2011/08/17/did-chibadura-chimombe-predict-their-deaths/ |title=Why Chibadura had no manager (In the groove with Fred Zindi) |work=NewsDay |author=Fred Zindi |date=2019-07-15 |access-date=2024-11-25}}</ref>
<ref name=perman>{{citation |title=Sungura in Zimbabwe and the Limits of Cosmopolitanism |author=Tony Perman |journal=Ethnomusicology Forum |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=21 |number=3 |date=December 2012 |doi=10.1080/17411912.2012.709815 |pages=374–401}}</ref>
<ref name=zimdancehall>{{citation |title=The Zimdancehall Revolution |editor1=Tanaka Chidora |editor2=Doreen Rumbidzai Tivenga |editor3=Ezra Chitando |isbn=978-3-031-41853-2 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-41854-9 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2024 |chapter=Introduction: Locating Zimdancehall in the Trajectory of Music in Zimbabwe |pages=1–26|doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name=zimdancehall2>{{citation |title=The Zimdancehall Revolution |editor1=Tanaka Chidora |editor2=Doreen Rumbidzai Tivenga |editor3=Ezra Chitando |isbn=978-3-031-41853-2 |doi=10.1007/978-3-031-41854-9 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2024 |chapter=Burying Sauro: The Necrography of Zimdancehall |author1=Tanaka Chidora |author2=Joseph Mujere |pages=233–260|doi-access=free }}</ref>
<ref name=zimbabwean>{{citation |url=https://www.thezimbabwean.co/2011/06/john-chibadurarsquos-legacy-lives-on/ |title=John Chibadura's legacy lives on |work=The Zimbabwean |date=2011-06-23 |access-date=2024-11-18}}</ref>
<ref name=sungura-queens>{{citation |doi=10.1080/18125980.2011.570304 |title='Welcome singing ''sungura'' queens': Cultural studies and the promotion of female musicians in a Zimbabwean male-dominated music genre |journal=Journal of Music Research in Africa |publisher=Taylor & Francis |volume=8 |number=1 |year=2011 |pages=103–119 |author=Nhamo Anthony Mhiripiri}}</ref>
<ref name=allmusic-john>{{allMusic |id=john-chibadura-mn0000175405 |title=John Chibadura Biography |author=Steve Huey |access-date=2024-11-18}}</ref>
<ref name=allmusic-tembo>{{allMusic |id=the-tembo-brothers-band-mn0001222630 |title=Tembo Brothers Biography |author=Leon Jackson |access-date=2024-11-18}}</ref>
<ref name=rough>{{cite book |title=Rough Guide to World Music: Africa & Middle East |edition=3rd |volume=1 of 3 |publisher=Rough Guides Ltd. |year=2006 |isbn=1843535513 |chapter=Zimbabwe |author2=Banning Eyre |author1=Judy Kendall |pages=706–718 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetoworl00simo/page/706/}}</ref>
<ref name=christgau>{{citation |url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=John+Chibadura |title=Consumer Guide: August, 2020 – The Best of John Chibadura (review) |website=robertchristgau.com |author=Robert Christgau |access-date=2024-11-21}}</ref>
<ref name=independent>{{citation |url=https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/obituary-john-chibadura/docview/312931884/se-2 |url-access=subscription |title=Obituary: John Chibadura |work=The Independent |author=Philip Sweeney |date=1999-09-20 |access-date=2025-01-17 |id={{ProQuest|312931884}} }}</ref>
</references>
==External links== * {{discogs artist|artist=1514948|name=John Chibadura}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1957 births Category:1999 deaths Category:20th-century Zimbabwean musicians Category:Zimbabwean reggae musicians Category:People from Bindura