Jonah Sithole – The Genius Instrumentalist Who Spoke Through His Guitar

Jonah Sithole 

By Kamangeni Phiri  29/11/22

WHEN he made his announcement on the music scene as a raw teenager in the early 1970s, guitarist-cum musician, Jonah Sithole was already a widely respected artiste.

Young as he was, the man had changed bands a couple of times, something that he did with ease given his talent in strumming the lead guitar. The man could make his guitar talk, making it imitate the lead singer’s words with ease.

A few years later, 1975 to be precise, the late Sithole, who was only 23 at the time, achieved immortality by becoming one of the first musicians to transcribe the traditional mbira instrument onto the guitar.

That genius touch was to mark the genesis of one of Zimbabwe’s greatest music sounds, Chimurenga music, a beat that brought global fame to a living legend, Thomas Mapfumo.

It is, therefore, befitting that whenever the story of the birth of Chimurenga music is shared, the name of Jonah Sithole, is also mentioned.

Sithole was born on January 1, 1952, in the province of Masvingo.

He was married to Gladys Maigurira. They had only two children; Tichaona Saul Sithole, born in 1982 and Tendai Sithole, born in 1986. Tendai tragically died in Birmingham, UK in 2006 and was buried in Harare. He was an aspiring artiste like his father. Tichaona is a music producer who has previously worked on a number of projects with Zimbabwean artists like Jusa Dementor and Juss Russ.

The legendary guitarist and songster first picked up the guitar as a 12-year old in Zvishavane town where he grew up.

“It was my elder brother’s. So my brother used to be lead guitarist when he was still at school. When he was now working in the mine, he used to leave his guitar in his bedroom. So I used to pick up that guitar and imitate the sounds I always heard him play when he was practicing. At that time, I was young so I could not talk him into teaching me the guitar,” Sithole told US based music critic, Banning Eyre in a 1988 interview.

Jonah eventually moved to Bulawayo, where he attended Mpopoma High School until his expulsion in 1969, when he was a Form Two pupil. By then, he was a fairly good guitarist after years of practicing.

Jonah then went to Kwekwe in pursuit of his brother who was playing in a band based in that town, The Jairos Jiri Kwela Kings. He convinced his brother to admit him into his band as a bass guitarist.

A few months after joining the group in 1970, the band was awarded a bar contract in Mbare, Harare. It immediately assumed a new name, the Delphans and Jonah became the band’s rhythm guitarist.

The legendary guitarist’s Damascus moment occurred when the Delphans decided to move to the Midlands province capital of Gweru in 1971 where the band had been given a contract to play there.

But Jonah felt he had matured enough to stand on his own and decided to remain in Harare with the idea of forming his own band. This could have been a rushed decision as in 1971, just three months into his stint as a bandleader, he was approached by veteran musician, Jackson Phiri, and then leader of the Limpopo Jazz Band, to be their guitarist.

Limpopo Jazz Band was a soukous (also known as Congolese rumba) outfit which was anxious to break into the increasingly competitive bar music scene. The band felt having band members who could sing in the local languages would greatly help its cause. It was during his time with the soukous outfit that Jonah mastered the art of playing Congolese rumba guitar styles. He was particularly enthralled by the guitar strumming style of rumba legend, Franco Luambo.

Jonah was at the same time beginning to develop the more traditional mbira inspired guitar sound. In 1974, Limpopo Jazz Band recorded a song, Ndozvireva, which was an adaptation of the traditional mbira song, Taisireva.

The song was among the first to transcribe mbira progressions onto the guitar together with the Hallelujah Chicken Run band’s Ngoma Yarira (based on the traditional Karigamombe) and the M.D. Success’s Kumatongo anchored on the mbira song, Kuzanga.

Thomas Mapfumo was at that time, already a key member of the Mhangura based Hallelujah Chicken Run band which was churning out traditional hit songs. This dispels stories that Jonah introduced Mapfumo to the traditional beat that he was later to name Chimurenga.

Jonah, however, did take the mbira inspired guitar of Chimurenga music to a higher level because of his dexterity and experience in strumming the wired instrument.

Soon after releasing Ndozvireva, Limpopo Jazz Band’s foreign members were deported and Jonah found himself playing with a number of hotel based bands with no names.

He also played for a short stint with the Great Sounds, another outfit that was into Congolese rumba. Sithole then moved to Mutare in 1974 to play with the Pepsi Combo. He, however, was not impressed by the name of the group and he suggested a name change. The group changed its name to Vibrations first and then Drifters. They played at Zimunya Hotel, just outside Mutare for about a year before the band moved to Harare as it hoped to get a performing contract.

Jonah approached the owner of the Jamaica Inn, a hotel just outside Harare, but found competition in the form of a vocalist without a band – Thomas Mapfumo.

Mapfumo was out of employment as he had just been fired from the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band. He had talked his way into a contract and use of the hotel musical kit with the hotel proprietor.

An interesting scenario panned out – Jonah had a band but no contract or equipment while Mapfumo had the contract but no band. The two decided to join forces and performed together at the Jamaica Inn for about two months, marking the beginning of their on-off relationship that lasted until Jonah’s untimely death in 1997.

They were later approached by a Harare businessman to perform at the Mushandira Pamwe Nightclub in Highfield, Harare.

At that time, Sithole and Mapfumo were playing an “afro-rock” beat instead of the mbira-based style which made them famous.

Three months down the line, Jonah was muscled out of the group but bounced back a few months later after he used his influence with a new nightclub owner to rejoin Thomas Mapfumo. This was in 1975 the year the two formed the Blacks Unlimited band.

Jonah Sithole was to part ways with the Blacks Unlimited later that year due to financial challenges.  He rejoined the Great Sounds before moving back to Mutare where he formed a new band, The Storm.

In 1977, with The Storm, Jonah released his first single Sabhuku, which turned out to be a hit. The song proved Jonah’s talent and unique touch to the mbira-guitar style. It was also during the period from 1976-77 that Jonah started specialising in mbira music. His mastery and authenticity of the chimurenga guitar prompted Thomas Mapfumo to disband his Acid Band (only lead guitarist Leonard Pickett Chiyangwa survived) and approached Jonah in 1978 to re-arrange the Blacks Unlimited. Jonah Sithole also played guitar on Thomas Mapfumo’s first album, Hokoyo, recorded in 1977, although he was not officially part of the Acid Band. As Thomas and Jonah moved towards a more mbira-based repertoire, Leonard Chiyangwa became increasingly irrelevant. He was eventually dismissed from the Blacks Unlimited.

Jonah played with Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited until 1981. During that period the two produced some of the most inspired songs of the chimurenga genre, including classics like Pfumvu Paruzevha, Kuyaura, Shumba, Chitima Cherusununguko, Bhutsu Mutandarika, Chauya Chiruzevha, Dangurangu and Chipatapata.

In 1981, Jonah Sithole left the Blacks Unlimited to form his own group, the Deep Horizon. The highlight of his solo career was the single, Kana Ndaguta. In May 1985, Thomas Mapfumo was preparing to tour Europe for the first time. He asked Jonah to rejoin the Blacks Unlimited. Jonah stayed with the Blacks Unlimited until 1989 and this period saw him evolving his mbira-guitar to unprecedented levels.

The evolution was made possible by the introduction of real mbiras in the Blacks Unlimited band resulting in the production of classic albums like Zimbabwe-Mozambique (1987).

But if ever there is a single track that single handedly gained Sithole immortality, then that song has to be Guruve. In the song both the lead vocalist Mapfumo and the guitarist appeared like they were possessed with Jonah’s guitar and Mukanya’s voice sounding like they were emanating from the valley.

In 1989, Jonah Sithole left the Blacks Unlimited once more, and played as a session musician for groups like the Pied Pipers as well as the famed 1950s era marabi singer, Dorothy Masuka.

In 1992 he revived his band, the Deep Horizon and a compilation album, Sabhuku, was released internationally in 1996.

Jonah Sithole rejoined the Blacks Unlimited in 1995 and the lead guitar genius featured on three albums, Afro Chimurenga, Roots Chimurenga and the live-in-studio album Chimurenga: African Spirit Music which was recorded during a UK tour. Jonah’s health started deteriorating rapidly soon after and he appeared on only one song, Tipeiwo Mari, off the 1997 album, Chimurenga Movement. He breathed his last in August of the same year.