Cold war erupts between Andy Muridzo and Jairos Chabvonga

A cold war has erupted between Andy Muridzo and Jairos Chabvonga over a song they did together and heated words are flying from each end. It might be two years since "Ngaituruke" was released, but Muridzo and Chabvonga are now fighting over the project.

Collaborations are meant to strengthen ties between artistes and enhance creativity, but this combination has lit a bad fire that could consume their relationship. Chabvonga claims he did most of the work on the song and Muridzo should not claim ownership as he does at his shows. On the other hand, Muridzo has spit venom over the issue, telling Chabvonga to "go and hang because he does not have an inch of talent".

Most of Muridzo's fans enjoy "Ngaituruke" at live shows and Chabvonga says the young man should give him credit when he does the song. Chabvonga's claim is uncommon because artistic collaborators are usually free to use their joint products in any way. But Chabvonga insists Muridzo should not brag about a song he did not compose.

"He is now basking in the glory of the song but when I approached Muridzo for a collaboration he was reluctant. I ended up paying for everything. He only came with his voice, I even paid for his transport," fumed Chabvonga.

"Even on the video, I wrote the concept and I footed all the bills. He has now monopolised the song and is claiming he did most of the work. I thought the project would take me somewhere, but I got nothing out of it," said Chabvonga. However, Muridzo said Chabvonga can go and hang because he did not do much on the song.

"Chabvonga akapera asati atanga and now he wants to find sympathy through soiling my name. If you listen to the song I did all the major verses. I will continue to play the song during live performances until he removes my voice from the original recording. I don't know how he will do it because the studio sealed the collaboration two years ago," said Muridzo.

It seems Chabvonga wanted to ride Muridzo's fame through collaborating with the "Dherira" singer on the track. However, the chimurenga singer is less popular and rarely does shows, which has given Muridzo an edge to ride on the collaboration. Muridzo said he thought he was helping a 'struggling' brother by agreeing to have a collaboration with Chabvonga.

"World over musicians perform their collaborations during live performances. I thought I was helping him because I am relatively popular than him," said the "Dhafu dhunda" singer.

Chabvonga who claims to have been a courier for music legend Thomas Mapfumo before he relocated to United States has had a topsy-turvy music journey since announcing his arrival on the music arena more than half a decade ago. While he has religiously released albums, his work has remained unnoticed.

Collaborations have been fertile grounds for fights between musicians in the country. Urban groove singer Leonard Mapfumo is still a bitter man 14 years after Nama organisers awarded Roki the Most Promising Artiste Award for the song "Seiko" that they did together in 2003.The song belonged to Mapfumo and Roki only featured. The late Jamal also died a bitter man because his song "Kurwizi" catapulted Betty Makaya to stardom while he remained a pauper.