Zvemumagitare part Part44 ZIMBABWEAN BAND POLITICS Every place you find a group of people working together there is always a system of governance,hapana kusina politics,musical bands have their own politics too, Every band has its own set of rules,just like every country that has its own different constitution,the only difference is that normally in Zim bands most of the laws come into the picture once money starts flowing in,please note,this is not the case in every band,but most bands....here are some of the commandments you will meet in Zimbabwean bands: THOU SHALL NOT ASK ABOUT THE BANDS REMUNERATION: In almost every big band in Zimbabwe,band members are not allowed to know how much the band is paid at gigs,festivals&private functions,thats for the band leader&the manager only.The only time the band is notified of the ammount is when its a free gig like charity events or if the money is too small. THOU SHALL NOT COMPOSE YOUR MUSIC IN SOMEONES BAND: In most bands in Zimbabwe,the culture is that its only the band leader who contributes the material.attempting to contribute your songs as band member in most cases is a sign of rebellion which can get you fired.One of the reasons for this is because there are royalties paid to composers only by Zimbabwe music writers association(Zimura),before the economy went bad composers would be paid very huge ammounts by Zimura&there is also a composers fee from royalties from cd sales,as a result most band leaders feel all that money ought to come to them alone in the band.Even if the band leader can not write songs,he would rather plagiarise folk songs,church choruses or even other artists music just to avoid someone writing songs for them. THOU SHALL NOT RECORD OWN MUSIC: Im sure we know a number of cases when prominent band members were fired from bands simply because they had recorded their solo albums.The unwritten law in Zimbabwean bands is that if you have composing skills,you have to put the skills on hold as long as you want to be part of a band. THOU SHALL GIVE ALL CREDIT TO THE BAND LEADER: Normally when a band leader introduces a song,the band works out the song arrangements,how the song is going to start,the basslines,the guitar lines even the vocal lines to enrich the song,BUT,in Zimbabwe all glory&credit goes to the band leader alone,thats why you see that most cds are writtenAll songs composed&ARRANGED by.......even if the band leader know nothing about music arrangement he has to get the credit. THOU SHALL NOT FALL IN LOVE AMONGST YOURSELVES: In most bands it is not allowed for band members to be in a romantic affair,the reasons being that if all is going well in your affair it affects nothing,but if you have a fight,it affects the smooth running of the band,so in most bands if 2members fall in love one of them is fired,or at times both members are fired. Every new or small artist tells you that he/she is different,but wait till money starts flowing in
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 04:46:02 +0000
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