By Kudakwashe Maria Chisvo Zimbabwe continues to suffer from increasing shrinkage of civil space, where freedom of speech has become a pipe dream for most young people. In times like this, most people look to influencers, musicians and artists to be their voices, to speak truth to power or to create content that speaks to their lived experience. Art is an escape for most people and due to the growth of the internet, access to multiple forms of media has become easier with jus

By Tinashe Chimedza When I got to university, right at the turn of the 1990s, straight from my father’s maize fields and herding cows, listening to Thomas Mapfumo, Leonard Zhakata, a bit of Simon Chimbetu, and Robert Nesta Marley was ‘standard curriculum’. Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo represented the outright rebel who has had to bear a loud testimony to the degeneration of the nationalists, and hence he picked the moniker ‘Gandanga’. Chimurenga, meaning war, Mapfumo’s music ha

Dear Reader, Music has long been a powerful tool for expressing and inspiring social change. This was exemplified recently in Zimbabwe, when musician Winky D released an album that speaks truth to power and brings attention to the issues of democracy and free expression. The album, titled Eureka Eureka, features a number of young artistes whose messages in expressing the daily living experiences of Zimbabweans in all spheres is unmistaken. This album has become an anthem for