Why Splash, Freddy Gwala are more popular in Zimbabwe than South Africa

FIVE years after his passing on 27 July, the life of Splash music godfather Dan Tshanda will be celebrated with a concert at the Large City Hall in Bulawayo.

Tshanda has been gone for almost half a decade but if one keeps their ear to the streets in Bulawayo, it does not feel like a day has passed since the king of shebeen music has passed on.

Tshanda's Splash brand is still as popular as ever, with some of the hits he crafted still reverberating as loudly in the City of Kings as they did when Tshanda still drew breath.


A party in Bulawayo is not a party until a Splash tune comes through the speakers. Any DJ who lives by this mantra will avoid glares and the gnashing of teeth from patrons and party-goers whenever they are in front of the decks.

Over the years, Splash concerts have never failed to cause a stir, and promoter, Gregory Ncube, who alongside 3D Events, X-MO Squad, and 2 Kings Entertainment, is bringing some of its best exponents, said he did not expect this occasion to be any different. This, after all, would be the first time for the city to mourn the life of a man who gave it the soundtrack to some of its most memorable nights.

"The purpose of the festival is basically to celebrate Dan Tshanda because he is someone who was always been warmly welcomed in Bulawayo whenever he came to perform. So we want to celebrate his life and honour his memory as someone who always embraced Bulawayo and was very much one of our own.

"We believe that this has been long overdue because it has taken five years since his death for this to become a reality. We want to bring people together and that is maybe why we have a lot of promoters all coming together, between Harare and Bulawayo to make this a reality," he said.

Such was the influence of Tshanda, said Ncube, that even artistes that were not making the Splash brand of music were eager to be a part of festivities.

"We also tried to involve local groups but the one that we could manage was Insimbi ZeZhwane because others were booked. Some might be surprised by that since it is a Splash concert but they expressed their eagerness to be a part of this because this is also an artiste that they grew up idolising, even though they do music that is from a completely different genre," he said.

While a celebration of Tshanda's life in Bulawayo is certainly long overdue, some might note that across the Limpopo, his native country, there are unlikely to be similar celebrations for the life of a man whose style of music dominated the airwaves in the 80s and early 90s in Mzansi.

In its heyday Tshanda and other artistes who made Splash, itself a strain of the bubblegum music that took hold of South Africa during those years, sold over 150 000 records with some of their more popular albums.

Since those heydays, South Africa seems to have completely moved on from Tshanda and other acts of a similar nature. In a way, Tshanda, Freddy Gwala, and other artistes whose popularity hit a peak during the so-called bubblegum era are the forgotten generation in that country.

While they sold millions of records, they are often regarded as a footnote in that country's music history, in comparison to jazz or afro-soul artistes.

Perhaps, this may be attributed to the context under which bubblegum music emerged. "Bubblegum lyrics before the late 80s were typically not expressly political because there was very strict censorship at the time, so if your songs were banned they wouldn't get played," said DJ Okapi, a South African musician dedicated to the preservation of bubblegum music.

"Instead, political messages were hidden in metaphors and satire . . . During the late 70s and 80s, most of South Africa's political leaders opposed to apartheid were jailed or exiled. Pop musicians were able to reach a mass audience if they were smart enough to escape censorship by disguising their lyrics."

When kwaito and later house music emerged at the end of apartheid, bubblegum music was quickly forgotten. However, in Zimbabwe, Bulawayo in particular, this never happened and the popularity of Tshanda and others from his Dalom stable continued unabated.

Perhaps, the way bubblegum music is still appreciated in both countries is a reflection of where black people stood when the genre emerged.

To South Africans, that music may be a reminder of the hardships of the last days of apartheid, where their people were allowed to sing but had their voices muzzled by a regime that did not want them to listen to artistes who spoke of freedom. It is an echo of a hard time that some would love to forget.

In Zimbabwe, the music was received by a free country whose people today love to reminisce about the "good old days" which Splash takes them back to.

For the artistes themselves, however, Zimbabwe has always been a chance to relive their glory days, as they are still exulted, particularly on the streets of the City of Kings.

"Zimbabwe is my home because I have done many gigs and my music is very popular in this part of Africa . . ." said Gwala in an interview.

"There was a moment when my gig clashed with that of Jamaican musician Shabba Ranks and people were caught in between which show they will attend. Interestingly it became obvious to the promoters that people would grace my gig and that led to Shabba Ranks' gig being cancelled.

"At some point, I had a gig in Harare and I was welcomed at the airport by a Limousine which was escorted by a motorcade. I felt like a president. I always tell people in South Africa that I am a big figure in Zimbabwe, and it's because they appreciate my music," he added.