The ManicaPost
Liberty Dube
Entertainment Correspondent
RAGGA Manyika outfit, Assegai Crew has re-grouped and has vowed to turn into a professional entity.
The group has been teetering on the brink of collapse, with one key member and bassist, Tonderai ‘Oblom’ Kashiri, being a slave of intoxication despite being extremely talented.
However, it is now a different ball game as witnessed last weekend.
The band shocked many when it put up a scintillating performance at the historic Summer Festival held at Manicaland Motoring Club on Saturday.
They curtain raised for Jah Prayzah.
Show promoter, businessman and bar owner, Tawanda Chitsa now manages the band and most of the group members are bank into the ensemble.
They are on the verge of re-registering with the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, while the drafting of the band members’ contracts and the group constitution was underway early this week.
“I am now fully committed to the band and my love for booze has since died down.
“After a serious talk with our new manager, elders in the arts industry and our fans, we have since resorted to revive the Assegai Crew brand.
“It is a big brand and we cannot afford to let it sink,” said Oblong in a recent interview.
The oldest member of the group, 58-year-old Silas Makumbe, who is also the group’s drummer, said their glorious days are back.
“It is our pleasure to be back together again as an entity. Having a new manager is a refreshing development.
“We expect him to stir the ship to greater heights.
“Having some statutes that will guide us as a band has always beem missing and we are hoping for greater days ahead. We know our founder, Stobbart Chidikano, is happy with the developments wherever he is,” said Makumbe.
Chitsa said he is glad that the band members are showing seriousness in the new project.
“Everyone in Mutare, particularly the older generation, knows how popular this band was in the 1990s and early 2000.
“We should not allow it to sink into oblivion,” he said.
The band now plays at Chitsa Sports Bar every Sunday as a resident group.
The late Chidikano, Philimon Sakala, Elton Majera, Tendai Mparutsa, Ronny Mushava, Martin Kafesu, Herbert Keyara and Luke Chahwanda were all part of Assegai Crew.
