…tracing Jeys Marabini’s amazing music journey
from Zimbabwe’s rural Filabusi
By Delicious Mathuthu and Emily Ncube
Popular for his hit song, Emarabini, which took the country by storm back in the days, accompanied by a well thought and produced video, the Filabusi born musician, Majahawodwa Ndlovu, popularly known as Jeys Marabini, traces back his musical journey from humble beginnings in the rural areas of Zimbabwe.
Like most aspiring black musicians in the rural areas back in the days, dreaming of a big breakthrough in the big cities, Jeys was no exception.
On this article, Jeys shares his musical journey that would see him become a household name in the Zimbabwean music landscape and beyond, sharing the stage with some of Africa and world’s best musicians.
Born and bred from Matebeleland South Province, Filabusi under Insiza District, popularly known as ‘koGodlwayo Omnyama, Omatshil’ insimbi ngomlenze, Amalalandawonye’, Jeys grew up in the rural areas, as he says, around mountains herding cattle.
He attended Dekezi Primary School and Dekezi Secondary School up to his Ordinary Levels.
Not known unto him then concerning his musical fate, coming from a family of singers, young Jeys focused his energy on sport and was a very good athlete.
He participated in the school baseball team and several other sporting activities.
“My mom was a great singer,” Jeys recalls back then during his schooling days.
As time passed, Jeys became well known for singing at the school choir and at church gatherings.
His first step into organised music was inspired by Amasango Asekhaya, an acapella and imbube group, which his elder brothers were part of.
After his Advanced Level education, Jeys took music as a profession and formed an imbube group called Comforting Brothers from his village Enyoni, which performed in homes, public gatherings and funerals.
“That was the start as family, friends and the village supported us and we managed to tour places,” Jeys recalls.
The group grew, and they decided to make their way to Zimbabwe’s second largest city, the ‘City of Kings’ as Bulawayo is known.
In the early days in koBulawayo, the group met several popular groups and bands which included Black Umfolosi, Amakhosi, Insingizi Emnyama and Amabhubesi; and life was a competition, he says.
‘Rega Kusarira’ in the 1990s, he recalls, was a popular song by Amabhubesi.
“In Bulawayo we competed and won some competitions, it was really survival of the fittest, what we gave in is what we got,” Jeys recalls.
For identity and originality, Comforting Brothers rebranded to Imbizo, which as Jeys says, “entailed a strong regiment of King Mzilakazi which uplifted our spirits when we hit our lows.”
As Imbizo, the group began making national tours.
“We toured a number of places locally from Bulawayo to Zvishavane, Masvingo, Mutare, Gutu, Mpandawana, Harare, Kezi, Gwanda etc,” Jeys says.
He acknowledges that schools were a very good platform for Imbizo, as parents and students were quite supportive to their passion.
In 1994, Jeys made a big step.
“I left Imbizo and joined the Sunduza Boys. These had already started touring abroad and I went with them to lndia, New Dehli, Mumbai, Chennai and some other places for two months, sharing big stages with great musicians, huge artists,” he says.
The international tours with his new found crew, Sunduza (meaning push), also exposed him to the Canadian and European markets.
“From there we toured to Canada, Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal etc (around 1998).
“We then went to the UK (United Kingdom), stayed in Sheffield and toured through the country, Manchester, Summerset, and a lot of them,” Jeys says.
Despite the group giving him the big stage, Jeys’ determination to walk his own path saw him bidding fare well to Sunduza Boys after the 1998 Successes.
He formed a company called Equator, where he promoted groups and bands from Africa to Europe; artists like Albert Nyathi, Four Brothers, Siyaya, Imbizo & other groups from Tanzania and South Africa.
Equator worked with several prominent artists in Zimbabwe and the region, before going back to international tours to Europe and America, this time leading his own band.
“We then went to Germany, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, USA (United States of America), Seattle, Scotland, Ireland, etc. It was a very busy time,” Jeys says.
About a year or two after the formation of Equator, Jeys says he met a lot of international artists like Baba-Mal, The Alfa Katore Drummers of Burundi, Hugh Masekela, Lucky Dube, Lady Smith Black Mambazo, Peter Gabriel in USA and many others, which he says was a great honor.
In 2001 the big moment came, he decided to go solo, as Jeys Marabini.
“We did a very powerful tour, then end of year I managed to stand on my own as Jeys Marabini, launched my first album ‘Emarabini’ which won the best video of the year award in 2003.
From his first album ‘Emarabini’, then followed his second, ‘Thuthukani ngo Thando’, and then ‘Umuzi Kababa’ was the famous song on ‘Thuthukani ngo Thando’ album.
Jeys narrates the rest of his albums from there: ‘Amalungelo’ was a hit song on his third album ‘Sounds of Today and Tomorrow’ and ‘Shadows on the WalI’.
“We then did ‘Jeys Marabini One Time’, which also won the Zim Awards especially from the song Ezinangeni, which had a good video.
“Fifth was ‘lzenzo’ which was recorded in South Africa under Cool Records in 2009, produced by Rob Luce an American singer, engineer and producer, which featured Nana Coyote from Stimela Julia was the most popular song even today it’s still popular.
“‘Jeys@40’ was the 6th album, also produced in SA at Downtown Studios, it features songs such as Ukufa, a powerful heart wrenching true story song as it brought back the scenery when I lost my parents to an accident and Yamitha Kanjani, which I cannot leave any show without playing that one.
“7th was ‘Silo’ which was for a European tour, famed by Khumbul’ekhaya which is played a lot in South Africa on 1KZN tv and also played in Zimbabwe on ZBC and also on YouTube.
“8th is ‘Thula Sana’, produced by Blessing Muparutsa, mixed & engineered by Vusa Moyo, a living legend who worked with the likes of Oliver Mtukudzi and Ferguson.
“From then I went on to record ‘Ntunjambila’, a very beautiful song, and now ‘Xola’ is the latest, as we are touring with it in Zimbabwe” Jeys Marabini says.
‘Xola’ was also nominated for the Zimbabwe Music Awards in 2023. The music legend says he has shared the stage with most musicians in Zimbabwe, the likes of the late Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo, Alick Macheso, Jah Praizer,Winky D,Sandra Ndebele.
Recently Jeys also shared the stage with Jazz guru, Louise Mhlanga in Harare at the Jazz and Soul Festival in Sheerwood.
He was also invited to perform at Music Day at Alliance France in Harare, in June 2023.
He shared the stage with the likes of Josh Meck.
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