Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the Zimbabwe Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
A bass player from a poor family in Bindura who became the biggest name sungura has had, and whose album Simbaradzo is the best-selling record ever released in Zimbabwe.
Alick Macheso started as a sideman, playing bass for other people's bands through the 1980s and into the 1990s, and formed Orchestra Mberikwazvo in 1997.
Sungura is a fast guitar dance music built on interlocking lead and rhythm lines, and Macheso's contribution was the bass: he plays it as a lead instrument, in runs that other bassists in the region simply cannot execute, and it is the reason a Macheso record is identifiable in a bar within two seconds. Simbaradzo, released in 2000, became the best-selling album in Zimbabwean history.
He is also a dancer — the borrowdale, named after the Harare racecourse, is his — and his live shows run for hours. Through the country's economic collapse he kept recording and kept filling venues, and he remains the most popular musician working in Zimbabwe.
Sungura is a fast guitar dance music built on interlocking lead and rhythm lines, and Macheso's contribution was the bass: he plays it as a lead instrument, in runs that other bassists in the region simply cannot execute, and it is the reason a Macheso record is identifiable in a bar within two seconds. Simbaradzo, released in 2000, became the best-selling album in Zimbabwean history.
He is also a dancer — the borrowdale, named after the Harare racecourse, is his — and his live shows run for hours. Through the country's economic collapse he kept recording and kept filling venues, and he remains the most popular musician working in Zimbabwe.
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