By Keith Mlauzi
Copyright nehandaradio
UNITED KINGDOM – Surely the tree of life is so uncertain and full and tomorrow is nothing short of unpredictable curves, the life of urban grooves maestro Ngoni Kambarami is testimony to this.
The ‘Zvaunondiita So’ hit maker has opened up on struggles he has faced as a musician and how he feels it’s much better to abandon ship and focus on other career paths other than music as it has proven to be an inconsistent source of income for him.
Speaking on the Diaspora Conversations podcast with Stanley Kwenda, Ngoni revealed that after he moved to the United Kingdom six years ago, his music career started slowing down and this has prompted him to seek better career options.
“After I moved to the diaspora I started doing a number of courses to better my career options, I worked as a forklifter, and I’ve also worked as a picker.
“I would work for seven and a half hours getting only 30 minutes break. In one night alone I was expected to pick up at least 600 boxes,” said Ngoni.
Speaking about his music Ngoni said he has contemplated on releasing a press statement informing his fans that he is hanging the mic for good. The reason behind this decision is that, there isn’t much coming from his music and he’s confused on what he did wrong.
“I think about giving up on music on a daily basis. Sometimes I think of releasing a statement that I’m now retiring. But a force bigger than me stops me from doing it.
“Sometimes we don’t know where we go wrong. If you go on my channel I have a video with over a million views but other videos barely make two thousand views.
“Where are the million people that watched the other video? Why can’t they watch this one as well?” Ngoni posed rhetorical questions.
The urban grooves legend also attributed poor turnout of fans at some of his shows as another factor for him wanting to quit his first love.
“Before I relocated, all I knew was music. I never thought of anything else. At times you can be called to a gig and you find the turnout of fans is so poor.
“That makes me ask myself if people don’t know me anymore or maybe I’m just not doing enough so my music isn’t reaching them,” he vented.
He also added that he had to relocate his family from Northern Ireland to England hoping it would be better but things turned out worse and they had to move back to Northern Ireland.
“After moving back to Northern Ireland I began to consider other options. I worked as a care worker, then I worked as a support worker and again as a truck driver.
“At first I didn’t understand how people would do these jobs but having this life experience helped me understand the true meaning of being human.”
Despite the challenges, Ngoni still remains positive that one day he will bounce back and take up his spot as a chart topping musician, but in the meantime, ‘a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do to survive’.
