Manyeruke still going strong at 74
GOSPEL veteran Mechanic Manyeruke may be 74-years-old but still believes God’s grace is on his side after cheating death while travelling to Bulawayo.
Manyeruke was a fortnight ago, involved in an accident while on his way to Bulawayo to attend a fundraising show for his church— the Salvation Army.
The church is raising money to celebrate 125 years of its ministry in the country. Manyeruke struck a cow about 40KM outside Bulawayo and believes that his survival shows he has more to offer.
“We were excited to be coming to Bulawayo and it was my first time since 1989 to perform here at the Salvation Army branch in Makokoba. Surviving the accident showed me that there’s something that I’ve to fulfil in God’s plan,” said Manyeruke who retired as a Sergeant Major in the church.
“The cows were in the middle of the road. When I dipped my headlights one of them came into the road and by the time one of my colleagues yelled out inkomo, it was too late. It was in the middle of the road. Fortunately it didn’t have horns because it would’ve hurt me badly. I hit its cheek and it died on the spot.”
Away from the near death experience, the Makorokoto h i t - maker said he was working on a new album for his fans. “There’s a new album at the end of this month called Mangiringende. It’s an acoustic album that has my signature guitar as per request from my fans. In the album I’m going back to the sound I started, which was dominated by my guitar,” said Manyeruke. He said a song to look out for was Ngiphilela uJesu, which sums up his life as a musician and a person. “There’s a song called Ngiphilela uJesu off my latest album. This is my song and it brings tears because I realise that I’ve lived a long time and when I realise it’s Jesus who has kept me for so long, it brings tears of joy,” said Manyeruke. He said nowadays people no longer sing to convert people but to make money, limiting the impact of gospel music. “People now sing for money and fame but for us when we started we sang to bring people to God through our faith. I spent about six years of my career without getting money for performances as I wasn’t into getting money. It was after that when people said I should record and get money. “Now when an artiste records an album they want to make money off it forgetting the calling of being a gospel musician,” said Manyeruke. “If you’re to sing a song for the people, make sure that it touches and ministers to you also. If you sing for people to enjoy and be touched but your music doesn’t touch you, it’s a waste of time.” Turning to his children, Manyeruke said he had finally listened to his son Emmanuel’s (Guspy Warrior) music and enjoyed it. “I’ve listened to Guspy Warrior’s songs and upon hearing his songs, I pictured Bob Marley. I was impressed he has good songs and most of them are enjoyable. “It’s not as if I didn’t wa n t to listen to his music I had no time and one day sometime this year when we were travelling, my wife suggested for us to listen to his latest album,” said Manyeruke. During Manyeruke’s spare time, he reads the Bible or spends weekends at his rural home of Chiwundura. looking after his livestock.