WOMAD

The Four Brothers

From Zimbabwe

The Four Brothers are one of Zimbabwe’s most successful groups, having had a string of best selling albums and hit singles. The music the band plays now is traditionally Zimbabwean - the rhythm guitar mimicks the sound of the M’bira (thumb piano), with the other instruments improvising around that. The band was formed in 1977 - the founder members being Marshall Munhumumwe (nephew of Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo) and Never Mutare (the current bass player of the Four Brothers). This was the time of Ian Smith’s government in Zimbabwe, and the then Rhodesia’s Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Britain. The political context is significant - at the time, bands were not allowed to play traditional music. Those that did risked being arrested, so as a consequence the Four Brothers made a living playing rock and roll numbers and covers of Beatles songs. If they played traditional songs, it was in a rock ‘n’ roll style, with hidden messages.The band’s name emerged at this time. One account is that the name, the Four Brothers, was chosen to reflect the equal status of all the members of the band (they are not related to each other). Another story is that when the band came to record their first album, they did not have a name, and it was the producer, Crispin Matema of Gramma/Teal who suggested the name ‘The Four Brothers’.After the war, traditional music again became acceptable and popular in Zimbabwe, and the Four Brothers started to establish themselves. The main root of their sound clearly lies in this Zimbabwean music. Their first big hit came in 1980, the year of Indpendence in Zimbabwe. Marshall Munhumumwe wrote ‘Makorokoto’, which means ‘celebration’ in Shona. This record caught the mood of the times and sold more than 100,000 copies - a lot in Zimbabwean terms. There then followed a string of hits in Zimbabwe. Following in the path of other Zimbabwean bands like the Bhundu Boys, the Four Brothers also started touring overseas.Over the years, the lineup of the band has remained virtually intact, although there have been some changes in personnel, and some experimentation with different sounds (as for example, when a sax player was added to the group). The touring line-up in 1999 includes Never Mutare, Frank Sibanda, Albert Ruwizhi and Robium Chauraya.