The history of Zimbabwean music is incomplete without mentioning arguably one of the most pivotal and impactful eras ever which Some like to refer to this time as the urban grooves era.
At the centre of this time however is Chamhembe, it’s the peak of what this era embodies and one of the Artists who rose to star dome in this era was Leonard Mapfumo.
Mapfumo began recording and performing immediately upon graduating high school in 1999 and his first commercial success came with the single “Seiko”, on which he featured Rockford Josphat popularly known as Roki and topped the national charts upon its release in 2000.
Mapfumo said it was purely passion that drove him to do music nomatter the odds and later in 2005 he released his first album, R & L, a collaboration with Roki.
The album’s success, particularly Mapfumo’s single “Maidei” which reached number 1 on the national charts, staying there for an unprecedented 42 weeks, established him as a Top Urban grooves artist in the Zimbabwean urban music scene.
Mapfumo says it was then that they were at the peak of their music careers with various artists like, Roki himself, Tererai, Mafriq and Stunner whom he described as the guy who made sure their fashion was on point.
it was at this time that they would even tear their jeans and perform on stage like that and have people copy their style.
During this early period of his career Mapfumo toured extensively in Zimbabwe Other Collaborations includes the songs Mvura with gifted vocalist and another urban grooves legend Sani Makhalima.
He went on to do Two Chete with Trevor Dongo and Ndoita Manyemwe with Varaidzo and even though Leonard had a rough come up, he was also behind the rising of Zim-dance-hall legend Shinsoman and he says that working with him was a blessing in disguise because they complimented each others style of music.
