The ManicaPost
Liberty Dube
Entertainment Correspondent
ONE of Mutare’s veteran keyboardists and Assegai Crew’s founding member, Robert Chagora, who had sunk into oblivion to pursue other ventures, says he is still in the game and has it what it takes to make a mark in the music industry.
Chagora says he perfected his keyboard playing skills when he was still with gospel entity, EGEA more than two decades ago and was part of the instrumentalists of the original Assegai Crew.
The band became popular for the Kanyama Karipi hit, plucked from the hot album, Zvese Mari. In an interview this week, Chagora who now stays in Mutare after relocating from Harare, said: “Keyboard playing expertise still runs in my veins and I can still play most of the songs that we did at Assegai Crew, other groups that I played for as well as copyrights.
“When I moved back to Mutare after leaving Assegai Crew, I became a session keyboardist especially for churches. I feel I inspire many souls through my keyboard playing prowess.”
He added: “I still have the energy, the verve and the expertise to play the keyboard. I don’t need more than 30 minutes to practice and play songs that we play back then.”
He relieved the days when he was still with the RaggaManyika outfit and how he became part of the star-studied line-up in the late 1990s.
“I remember when we were based in Sakubva, with the then founding members, Brian Nhanhanga, who was on lead guitar, drummer, Silas Makumbe and Brian Chiringa, who was on bass guitar as well as another keyboardist, Mike Moyo and others.
“We would spent time, even the better part of the day rehearsing. We had successful shows before the chartbuster album, Zvese Mari. RaggaManyika is a unique brand that we feel should be protected. The genre’s main secret towards its uniqueness is on bass and keyboards. That was actually our strength.
“We were also excellent on copyrights and people would enjoy that. The death of our band leader, Stobart Chidikano was a huge blow. However, I feel some members who are still alive such as Toti Makureya, Nhanhanga can play a role in bringing back that sound again,” he said.
