Thread by @SunguraCentral

There are conflicting accounts of events in Simon’s youth. Some say he was abducted by freedom fighters but sent back because he was too young. Others say he left of his own accord to join the struggle. Some say he never left at all. #SunguraFriday

What we know is that, late 70s, Simon and Naison moved to Gillingham (now Dzivarasekwa), staying with a relative.
And they spent time moving around the bars, singing for patrons. They even sang on buses.

One day, while singing at a bar, Simon and Naison were spotted by Chris Matema ace producer (Witness Matema’s late dad). He liked what he heard. But they had no band. He sent them over to Zexie Manatsa for help. He was busy recording then; he turned them away #SunguraFriday

Matema then hooked the boys up with the OK Success Band, the rhumba resident band at Mushandirapamwe in Fio, led by Andrew Ngoyi, a larger than life, no-nonsense fella outta ‘Zaire’.

The band started backing Naison and Simon, who still didn’t play guitars.

It took much pressure for the OK Success Band, veterans of the game, to take on the two, young, untested upstarts. But the boys won the crowds over; two skinny boys harmonizing over rhumba tracks was something new. #SunguraFriday

But, Ngoyi wasn’t one to be upstaged, not by these two boys. After refusing to back the boys for a few gigs, OK Success had a big fight with the hotel and the tie-up with Naison and Simon collapsed. The boys, and the hotel, needed a new resident band; so in came Sungura Boys.

You can hear the Chimbetus singing on this Sungura Boys track. Remember, Ephraim Joe, leader of Sungura Boys was a great leader and guitarist. But he knew he was a shabby singer.

https://twitter.com/sunguracentral/status/1068494909693399041?s=12

But that Sungura Boys-Marxist Brothers tie-up soon got strained as well. The Sungura Boys made John Chibadura their lead vocalist, replacing the Chimbetus.

Now, after trouble with the OK Success, and trouble with Sungura Boys, Naison & Simon new exactly what they needed to do; form their own band. They did just that. First guys were George Fero on lead, Stuart Majoni on basa, Jah “WekuMbare” Mukwati and the icon Solo Makore - rhythm

In 1983, they threw down serious hits. Mwana weDangwe, and this one, Good Bye Sandra

Hanzi “good bye Sandra, I’ll see you back again...”

😂

Why did they choose the name Dendera?
Fo answer this question, we have to go National Geographic a bit.
Dendera is a bird (Ground Hornbill). These birds like to move in pairs, and they sing together. Check this duet!
...like Naison and Simon!!

And here is Simon, just chillin’ next to a dendera bird, just because he can. Why not. He made those birds famous.

Anyway, moving along swiftly away from David Attenborough stuff and back to the music.
The Naison and Simon duo made great hits. But there was trouble brewing...

Naison was not as charismatic or talented a vocalist as Simon. But he had one major strength; he was a hell of a song writer. He wrote many of their hits. Those days, the record company paid extra to the song writer. Naison later claimed that his brother was keeping this from him

The guys were at the time signed to the ZMC label. But a rival label, RTP, made Simon an offer to switch camps. Naison wanted to stick to ZMC. Last straw. They split.
Simon with Orchestra Dendera Kings, Naison with the G7 Commandos.
(Zim has the world’s best band names)

When Simon and Naison split, Simon left with all the instruments. Naison was stranded. It took ZMC to help. But he was never the same. It didn’t help that he was a lover of the wise waters. Often, he’d stagger on to the stage.

In contrast, Simon’s career soared. Hit after hit.
Interrupted, rudely, in 1990 when he was jailed after being found in possession of a stolen car.

Car lover; here with a Mazda 929 sports car and also a luxurious Mazda 626.

But we all like a but of notoriety. Simon’s jailing only helped his career. The song “Ndourawa”, in which he sang about his arrest, was a smash it. He made hits throughout the 90s.

While Simon was in jail, his brothers took over the band and kept Dendera going.

Izvi Zvimbetu zvacho nemabhibho azvo

Chopper never shied away from politics. From early years, he sang to celebrate the struggle. He sang to call on leaders to give us land (Zuva Raenda, mukoma govai minda). Then criticised rich Cdes for forgetting the poor (Kana mokwidza mitengo, musakangamwa chingwa chevana vangu)

But then the politics of Zimbabwe changed a lot post 2000, but Simon didn’t. He lost some fans. He sang Hoko, in support of land reform. “KuState House kure” only made some fans even angrier😎. (Imagine if there was Twitter then)

Chopper refused to see anything wrong in his “pro-Government” yrics. He said he had never changed.

“I do not know what was the difference between Hoko and all other earlier albums in which I included songs that have a war theme,” he said. “I do not regret singing about land”.

Chopper was asked what he thought of the opposition. He replied: “Such parties have no national interest but rather selfish ambitions and don’t deserve to lead the people and the people don’t deserve to be led by them.”

Of course they stopped going to his shows

On an early Sunday morning, 14 August 2005, Simon Chimbetu died at his home in Mabelreign. The fans that had rejected him jammed the street outside Mashfords to see his body off to Chinhoyi Heroes Acre, where he now rests. The press that had hounded him sang his praises.

He once said: “When people stop liking Chimbetu, tell them to remember the good things that I did.”

We never stopped, Mukoma Sam! 👊🏽