“One notable thing about Vusa is that he has worked with people from across the board. He has taken part in various music festivals in Africa, Western and Eastern Europe, as well as in North America”

IN the 1960s and 1970s Zimbabwe, then known by the colonial name Rhodesia, saw the birth of a new musical acapella genre called Imbube comprising of males voices. The genre itself had originated from mines in neighbouring South Africa where most Zimbabweans crossed to work.
At the mines, the miners composed and sang their own songs so as to drown their loneliness and entertain themselves. Without any accompanying music instruments, their voices composed rhythmic tunes that vibrated throughout the mines as they worked. In social gatherings, Imbube became the main source of entertainment for the tired labourers who worked long hours in dangerous underground mines.
While most of the Imbube songs composed by the miners were happy compositions, some stood up for social justice and acted as a voice for the workers. With Imbube songs came some dancing – the gumboots dance, in which the men stamped their feet on the ground in a stamping dance squence.
When the miners broke-off for the festive season, each going to spend time with family and friends, they sang Imbube songs to delighted audiences.
South Africa borders Zimbabwe in the south, in the Matebeleland region which is dominated by Ndebele speaking people. So the influence of Imbube music concetrated in Matebeleland as men there could easily cross into South Africa.