MVUMA – The Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Reaction will soon send a proposal to government to make legendary sungura musician Leonard Dembo who died in 1996 a national hero.
Dembo’s hit albums which were churned year after year from Chitekete (1991), Tinokumbira Kurarama (1992), Mazano (1993), Nzungu Ndamenya (1994) and Babamunini (1996).
He was born on the December 29, 1959 in Masvingo.
He started playing the guitar at the age of seven.
He joined the music industry after independence in 1982, worked with ‘The Outsiders’ and released ‘Venanzia’ in the same year before going solo in 1984 to form his own band.
The other albums by Dembo are Mai neVana Vavo (1984), Nhamo Moto (1985), Kuziva Mbuya Huudzwa (1986), Sharai (1987), Kukura Kwedu (1988), Ruva Rashe (1989) and Kukura Hakutane (1990).
Dembo died at the age of 37 on April 9, 1996 at the Avenues Clinic in Harare. He was laid to rest at his rural home in Chaka on April 10, a date which coincides with the date and month which he released Ruva Rashe in 1989.
- Masvingo Mirror
