WE NEED TO CHANGE CAREERS - MUTAMBI
SUNGURA star Simon Mutambi reckons its high time musicians take diversification seriously.
This follows the pronouncement of the 30-day Covid-19 lockdown to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
After ‘ barren’ 2020 where musicians last played shows in March, Mutambi said it’s high time they diversify or starve to death if they wait for normalcy to return.
“I think changing careers or doing something which does not breach the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions is the best way to go.
“In my case, I am a barber and farmer but I feel my fellows need to diversify and do something else because we are likely to live with the virus for years to come.
“We thought we would be allowed to resume live shows in 2021 but judging buy the situation on the ground, we are nowhere near that as the surge in new infections is worrying.
“It’s not a matter of life and death and it’s up to players in the creative sector to do something different which does not breach the laws of the land,” he said.
On fellow artistes breaching the Covid19 restrictions, Mutambi said:
“We need to respect the authorities because the consequences of breaching the lockdown rules are severe.
“As artistes, we need to learn from what happened to our fellows and do the correct thing.
“It’s high time as artistes we resist hefty perks from dubious local promoters to hold shows which flout the regulations because the consequences are dire.”
Mutambi who ended the year 2020 on a flier after launching a joint album with Nicholas Zakaria titled Zadziso, was hoping to shoot more videos this year.
“We were in the process of shooting videos but we will see how we are going to do it because we don’t want to be caught wanting or on the wrong side of the law,” said the Zebra Kings founder.
Mutambi is one of the new generation of sungura musicians based in Beatrice doing wonders.
He joins the list of Romeo Gasa, Mark Ngwazi, Peter Moyo among others who peform sungura.