Entertainment / Celebrity
Urban grooves pioneer falls on hard times
10 Mar 2013 at 07:29hrs | Views
One of urban grooves pioneers, Sanii Makhalima has gone broke.
The talented Usadaro hi-maker who used to run a recording studio where he produced and recorded music for other musicians in the early 2000, can hardly afford to record his own albums now.
His Umsindo Studio situated along Jason Moyo Avenue in Harare shut its doors last year after he failed to pay rentals, forcing the talented Sanii to record his music with other studios.
The Daily News spotted him at a recording studio in Harare where he was said to be recording songs for his upcoming album.
The lanky musician who wooed many fans with hits like Ndofefeterwa and Iwewe has however found refuge at ZiFM where he is employed as a human resources manager.
Sanii, who during his heydays produced good videos for his songs was not willing to comment on the matter.
"That story about my studio is an old story, come down to ZiFM so that I can give you all the details. What I can tell you is that this conversation is being recorded so whatever I say and what you will write should be coherent. Nowadays I am very cautious about who I talk to because so many things have been written about me," he said before he hung up the phone.
The Daily News heard how the musician, who invested so much in the development of the urban grooves genre has hit on hard times such that he even had some of his recording equipment confiscated by his landlady.
His landlady confirmed Sanii's failure to pay rent but denied she had confiscated the equipment as settlement for rent arrears.
Several visits to Umsindo Studio's which used to produce for musicians like Muzimba, Arnold Gara and Nico Dee confirmed that something was amiss as it was always locked.
Most of the artistes have moved to other recording studios.
"When he was running his studio it was closed at one point in 2011 because of rent arrears. As much as times are difficult, he is not a good manager of both himself and his things.
"He does not set his priorities right, that is why he ended up in arrears over his studio rent," said a source who preferred anonymity.
Mzimba, became defensive when asked to shed light on the matter.
"We are moving right now, people have been writing about the studio but right now we are moving. We are relocating to Baines Avenue. People have been writing what they want and if you want to write that Mzimba shouted at me go ahead, I don't care," he said.
His statement contradicts with what another artiste from the same studio, Gara said.
Gara said they were now operating from Makhalima's residence in Mount Pleasant but the Daily News has it on good authority that his place of residence is Msasa.
The talented Usadaro hi-maker who used to run a recording studio where he produced and recorded music for other musicians in the early 2000, can hardly afford to record his own albums now.
His Umsindo Studio situated along Jason Moyo Avenue in Harare shut its doors last year after he failed to pay rentals, forcing the talented Sanii to record his music with other studios.
The Daily News spotted him at a recording studio in Harare where he was said to be recording songs for his upcoming album.
The lanky musician who wooed many fans with hits like Ndofefeterwa and Iwewe has however found refuge at ZiFM where he is employed as a human resources manager.
Sanii, who during his heydays produced good videos for his songs was not willing to comment on the matter.
"That story about my studio is an old story, come down to ZiFM so that I can give you all the details. What I can tell you is that this conversation is being recorded so whatever I say and what you will write should be coherent. Nowadays I am very cautious about who I talk to because so many things have been written about me," he said before he hung up the phone.
The Daily News heard how the musician, who invested so much in the development of the urban grooves genre has hit on hard times such that he even had some of his recording equipment confiscated by his landlady.
His landlady confirmed Sanii's failure to pay rent but denied she had confiscated the equipment as settlement for rent arrears.
Several visits to Umsindo Studio's which used to produce for musicians like Muzimba, Arnold Gara and Nico Dee confirmed that something was amiss as it was always locked.
Most of the artistes have moved to other recording studios.
"When he was running his studio it was closed at one point in 2011 because of rent arrears. As much as times are difficult, he is not a good manager of both himself and his things.
"He does not set his priorities right, that is why he ended up in arrears over his studio rent," said a source who preferred anonymity.
Mzimba, became defensive when asked to shed light on the matter.
"We are moving right now, people have been writing about the studio but right now we are moving. We are relocating to Baines Avenue. People have been writing what they want and if you want to write that Mzimba shouted at me go ahead, I don't care," he said.
His statement contradicts with what another artiste from the same studio, Gara said.
Gara said they were now operating from Makhalima's residence in Mount Pleasant but the Daily News has it on good authority that his place of residence is Msasa.
Source - dailynews
