The Best Colombian Music | A Top 10
Whenever we talk about any country’s music, it is deeply rooted in a rich history of local traditions and cultural influences. Colombian music is one
There’s always a relation between tradition and modernity. And most of the time, modernity embraces tradition. However, I found an exception with Afrobeat artists, and how the new generation of Afrobeats singers completely broke away from the traditional Afrobeat music.
Meanwhile, I have noticed an interesting thing with Zimbabwe music. Although the music of Zimbabwe has changed, there’s a clear relation between traditional Zimbabwe musical instruments and new music.
For example, Indigenous instruments like the Mbira and Ngoma drums are part of Shona spiritual ceremonies.
Mbira is interesting here because its hypnotic sound forms the basis of much traditional and modern Zimbabwean music. In a way, Zimbabweans have kept traditional music of Zimbabwe alive.
Now, let’s discuss some of the famous Zimbabwean singers who are the pioneers of such traditions and modernity.
Oliver Mtukudzi was a legendary Zimbabwean musician. People credit him for creating a Tuku Music that fuses Shona traditional rhythms, Mbira melodies, and Afro-jazz guitar.
So, in a way, he showed that urban audiences could also enjoy traditional music. His fusion also gave way to genres like sungura, Afro-fusion, and Zimdancehall.
In over four decades, Mtukudzi released more than 60 albums, including Neria, Tuku Music, Paivepo, among others. (Some of his songs also share these names).
Neria is one of his iconic Zimbabwean songs about the injustices Zimbabwean widows faced for their inheritance rights. Todii is another classic song that took on the HIV/AIDS crisis.
He also did a collaboration with the legend of South African music, Hugh Masekela, for the song, Tapera.
For his contribution to social music and human rights activism, he was also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for the Southern Africa Region.
Also, for more about the Afro-jazz genre, check out the best jazz albums.
Stella Chiweshe was a legendary Mbira player and singer, bringing international recognition to the instrument. She started playing Mbira instruments at Shona spiritual ceremonies when it was considered a taboo for women to play.
She began her singing career with a single song, Kasahwa, in 1974. By the 1980s she brought electric instruments to her Mbira tradition and created the band, The Earthquake.
Ambuya?, Chisi, Shungu, Talking Mbira: Spirits of Liberation are some of her earlier albums of that era.
She is unlike other traditional Zimbabwe singers as her Mbira pieces have interlocking melodies and they often run longer than commercial songs.
She was the only female Zimbabwe musician of the 1980s who brought mbira in the international audiences through tours in Europe and North America.
Thomas Mapfumo, who’s also known as the “The Lion of Zimbabwe” and “Mukanya,” is a legendary Zimbabwe musician. He is the pioneer of Chimurenga music, a genre he made using Shona mbira rhythms onto electric guitars with drums that emulate the stamping of dancers’ feet.
Mapfumo’s contribution to the Chimurenga genre was musical and political during the 1970s. His debut album Hokoyo! Had political songs, which the state radio banned. He also lived in exile for 2 decades during the Mugabe government.
In 1978, he created the band The Blacks Unlimited, defining his mbira-pop style with fellow Zimbabwean guitarists.
Apart from Hokoyo! Gwindingwi Rine Shumba, Mabasa, and Corruption are some of his best Zimbabwe music albums about the liberation struggle and post-independence.
Jah Prayzah is a modern face of Zimbabwean music, yet with the use of traditional Zimbabwe music instruments in Afropop. He blends guitar-driven pop with reggae, Zimdancehall, and traditional Shona instrumentation.
His mainstream success came with the album Tsviriyo, which had a hit song, Gochi Gochi. Kumbumura Mhute, Mdhara Vachauya, and Hokoyo are some of his other best Zimbabwe albums, with many others.
Unlike other famous Zimbabwean singers whose music was political, his music is commercial with high-budget videos.
His collaboration with the Tanzanian musician Diamond Platnumz, for the song, Watora Mari, has well over 30 million views on YouTube. For more such hit videos, don’t forget to check top YouTube music channels.
Jah Prayzah is also the first Zimbabwean to win an MTV Africa Music Award in the Listener’s Choice category.
Just like above Zimbabwean singers, Winky D is also a pioneer of another genre, Zimdancehall. It’s a genre that was instrumental in changing the urban music scene in the 2000s and 2010s.
However, Zimdancehall is unlike other traditional music of Zimbabwe, because it doesn’t use traditional instruments. It fuses Jamaican dancehall music with Shona language and DJing.
He got recognition in local DJ battles, before with breakout tracks like “Rasta” and “Dead Inna War”. Apart from that, he has given some other hit Zimbabwean songs like Musarove Bigman, Disappear, Ngirozi, and Kasong keJecha.
His biggest collaboration was with the legendary Oliver Mtukudzi for the song, Panorwadza Moyo. So far, he has released more than 6 albums with the latest album, Pabho Ep, coming in 2025.
Chiwoniso Maraire was one of Zimbabwe’s most influential artists in preserving and modernizing Mbira music. Since she grew up in the United States with her father, a music teacher, she brought her musical learnings as a fusion to Zimbabwe.
Here, she gave a twist to Mbira music by fusing it with hip-hop, jazz, blues, and reggae. To do that, she became a part of Afro-fusion hip-hop trio A Peace of Ebony.
Her first two albums Ancient Voices and Timeless feature famous Zimbabwean songs like “Zvichapera” and “Listen to the Voices of the People”. In fact, Ancient Voices entered the World Music Charts Europe three times.
Although she died at the young age of 37, yet she remains one of the most famous Zimbabwean singers. If you want to know more about Afro-fusion music, do check out Kenyan music.
Mokoomba is one of the famous Zimbabwe music six-member bands. The band’s name comes from a Tonga word connoting deep respect for the Zambezi River and the life along its banks. The boys are famous for blending Tonga music with Afro-fusion rock.
Their breakthrough came in 2008 when they won the regional music festival in Malawi and they went on a European tour across ten countries.
It also meant their debut album, Rising Tide and the consequent album, Luyando, were smashing hits. Rising Tide was a topper on the iTunes world music charts in 2012.
After that, Luyando and Tusona: Tracings in the Sand are their subsequent albums.
Mokoomba is the only Zimbabwean music band that have performed at the premium music festivals like Denmark’s Roskilde Festival, Morocco’s Gnaoua World Music Festival, WOMAD in the UK, among others.
Hope Masike is one of the top female Zimbabwean singers of traditional and African culture. She is credited with the modern use of Mbira and its use outside traditional ceremonies.
She has three studio albums to her credit apart from multiple singles. And her second album, Mbira, Love & Chocolate, is one of her best works as she combines Mbira with guitar, bass, and percussion.
She was also a lead Mbira player and vocalist on three Monoswezi Albums. Monoswezi is an Afro-Nordic collective with members from Mozambique, Norway, Sweden, and Zimbabwe.
Alick Macheso is one of the legendary singers of the sungura genre. Many critics credit him with redefining the genre with bass-driven sound. Sungura is popular dance music unlike mbira or politically driven genres.
He first got recognition as a bassist with Khiama Boys before creating his own band, Orchestra Mberikwazvo.
Over his musical career, spanning 3 decades, he has released scores of albums. However, albums like Magariro, Zvakanaka Zvakadaro and Simbaradzo are some of his best traditional Zimbabwe music albums.
The Bhundu Boys were a Zimbabwean music band of the 1980s that used to play a mixture of chimurenga music with American rock and roll and disco. Their style came to be known as jit, a dance music with drums and rapid guitar.
Shabini and Tsvimbodzemoto are their earliest albums with huge success. Apart from that, they also released multiple singles and many other hit albums.
And because of these albums, they were the first Zimbabwe music bands to tour in the UK, Europe, and North America.
In the UK, they also opened for Madonna at Wembley Stadium before a crowd of 240,000.
The band, eventually, had a sad demise with the lead guitarist and founding member, David Mankaba, dying of TB and AIDS.
All the things that I have discussed about Zimbabwe music hold true to their earlier premise: innovating while staying true to traditional music of Zimbabwe. And this is something which is quite admirable.
Interestingly, their innovation also gave way to new musical genres which we don’t often see much with other country’s music.
Also, this is not accidental. The persistence of traditional structures across different genres shows how famous Zimbabwean singers have retained cultural heritage even as music changes.
Also, if you have anything interesting that you would like to share about Zimbabwean music, please do! And keep visiting CulturalReads.
Zimbabwe music is unique for blending traditional Zimbabwean music like mbira with modern genres, creating a strong link between culture and contemporary music.
The music of Zimbabwe includes chimurenga, sungura, jit, and Zimdancehall, each with a unique history and evolving urban influences.
Famous Zimbabwean singers include Oliver Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo, Stella Chiweshe, and Winky D, known for shaping both traditional and modern sounds.
Zimbabwe music instruments like the mbira and ngoma drums remain central, influencing modern genres and maintaining cultural continuity.
Zimbabwean music has evolved from ritual and community-based forms to global and commercial genres, while still preserving traditional rhythms and identity.
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