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Chimurenga Files: The One Take Poverty Tape

by Hillary Keni-Witsani

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1.
Military Arrangement 00:43
lyrics
Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah Military arrangement Military arrangement Bhalagwe's in the dreams sis Bhalagwe's in the dreams man Dzamara's in the jungle boy Mass graves and get downs Deadly knocks in the night Military arrangement Military arrangement My people are down in the dirt People are drowning in debt My people are down in the dirt Mass graves and get downs
2.
Animals 00:31
3.
Where is the Love 01:22
4.
Military Arrangement 2 00:58
lyrics
Evil on evil Evil on evil Evil on evil Evil on evil Evil on evil Stuck in a hard land, the walk's on tip toe Dancing in boxes, outside's some pitchforks Walking on safe ground, taking no chances You speak out they brand you, everyone's hiding In plain sight the walk is: everyone head down A knock in the witching hours, welcome to Salem Welcome to Thug State, welcome to Zim boy Stuck in a Mugabe hangover welcome to Africa Stuck in a flood of shame, leaders dancing on graves Walking on razorblades, racing for cutthroats Stuck in a land of fear, nursing festering sores Yeah The pain needs to stop, the veil needs to lift My sisters and brothers get pissed off in foreigns That rage is important but Big Brother's watching so watch it back
5.
Gukurahundi Babies 02:22
lyrics
What are we here for? Welcome to Zim Welcome to hell Hey, welcome to heaven!! Our country's a burden Still we trying to be better Still we trying to be human Our fathers were ghosts Our sons we present for them Our daughters we raising them Products of broken homes Born in the Mugabe era Our eyes we keep on the ball Happy homes is what we after A better life's what we want Life's bloody premiums Feed the fam and fuck the bother Let the message spread Only for the message, man we need the fame The balancing act is hell What are we here for? Where I come from, We know what hell is We know how things snowball So we buying by the cases Long as you live my sister, The dream's is still alive Make the weather warmer for it Whoever timelines a calling I'm the living testament Born in a land that Sent the soldiers down: With AKs, bullets, bayonets, and gave us genocide: Closed lips, mass rapes, mass graves and tribal divides: Gukurahundi babies Raised in a land that At the age of five Put a knife in my hand And some other other smaller hands, And let the posse run around Let the animals pounce Get the brains out get the mob in young homies be men Have mercy on the village
6.
Sinkende Money 00:42
7.
Heart ft. Mvelo Nyana kaNtu & Richie Juma 02:27
8.
Free Gigs 00:56
9.
Living ft. Scarlet 01:16
lyrics
They told me keep on writing, some voices can't be missing that's how you keep on fighting. They told me keep on dreaming, told me keep on searching that's how you keep on breathing They told me drop that knife, and then leave all that and please stay off prison They told me stay on track and only keep to facts and then you keep on moving My family keeps on living, even though things ain't easy They told me keep on dancing, even though life ain't easy They told me dance for rains, homie play your part and then you keep on living
10.
Mad Men ft. Sinkende 02:14
11.
Lizwe Bani Leli (Philani A. Nyoni Closing Dirge) 00:58

about

This was a tape made out of desperation at the state of Zimbabwe's economy and repression. I wasn't interested in the usual recording or music rules and didn't even bother to master the tape, I just wanted to say something. In the shortest way possible: 11 pieces, 14 minutes to be exact. When you live in the country that I live in, you have no time to waste on rules and you definitely have no money to waste on polishing anything; you just want your words to be heard and you want something to be done.

The tape was inspired by the events of August 1st, 2018 when civilians were shot and killed in the full glare of the world's eyes. That event also reminds one of the Gukurahundi genocide that the Zimbabwean government is still to apologise for as well as the disappearance of countless citizens, prominent of which is Itai Dzamara. When a government commits evil acts that it is not held to account for, and presides over the looting of its own country's coffers (sentencing its citizens to a life of hardship, fear and poverty), it relinquishes its right to govern and needs to be removed by any means necessary. This is the part that i'm playing, play yours.

Love

Hillary Keni-Witsani

credits

released January 1, 2019

WRITTEN & PRODUCED by Hillary Moyo with additional input by Patrick Nyaumwe, Perseverance Mativenga, Luckmore Sibanda, Richard Juma, Elvis Sango, Philani A. Nyoni & Trevour Mtimkulu

Cover Image shot by Sinkende

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Hillary Keni-Witsani Zimbabwe

Avant-garde musician, writer, arranger and performer. Bends western music sounds to fit into African traditional and modern rhythms prevalent among the San and Kalanga people of Western Zimbabwe and Eastern Botswana.

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