His stage name is SIZA. The first two letter SI are taken from his first name, Simon and ZA from his surname Muzangirwa. Straight away you know that we are dealing with a creative artist here. Many of you will ask me: “But who is this Siza?”
I will answer this very quickly. Siza is a music star, singer, songwriter, choreographer, entrepreneur, motor mechanic, breadwinner and herbalist. It sounds like he is a jack of all trades.
Before I go into details about this young artist let me give you the background to the reason why I am writing about him in this featured article:
I have often been accused of not featuring young up-coming artistes in my articles. This is basically through the fact that when I discover a young talent, within a few years it disappears from the limelight. There often is no consistency as many young artistes are grappling to establish themselves as musicians against the wishes of their parents who often think that there is no future in the music business. That is discouraging news for many of them. Quite a few of these artistes have proved their parents wrong by establishing themselves as the breadwinners of the whole family. Such examples range from Jah Prayzah, Oliver Mtukudzi, Charles Charamba, Winky D to Jonah Moyo who have shown that they can make a decent living out of music alone.
There could be more young artistes who want to establish themselves as the world’s best music icons but are nervous about upsetting their parents as the future is unknown.
This is the story with young Simon Muzangirwa aka Siza. He was born in Beatrice on the 14th August, 1983.
In 1990, he attended primary school first at Rusvingo in Highfields, Harare where he lived with his grandparents and later at Mutusva after which he was transferred to Makoni Secondary School in Masvingo. He left secondary education after form 3. He then briefly attended Masvingo Polytechnic Technical College in 2004 where he did a motor mechanics course.
Simon is quite an intelligent, smart young man who tries everything from music to motor mechanics as stated above. His philosophy is that if one thing fails, he will go to another, and it seems to be working for him.
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In Masvingo, he was looked after by his grandmother nick-named Mbuya va Simon under chief Murinye in Takaendesa Village, situated in Gutu, Masvingo.
He became active as a musician after meeting with Uncle Jaunda in Masvingo in the year 2005. Together, they performed at the Umdhala Wethu Gala in Marondera in 2008.They tried many musical acts together but did not get very far. It wasn’t until he met blind singer Munyaradzi Munodawafa that people began to take notice of Siza especially after the Umdhala Wethu Gala in Marondera in 2008 where he showcased his abilities as a dancer.
In 2009, he went to Botswana where he was featured on Botswana television (BTV) on a show known as MY STAR which was presented by Taviso Nasha. He then worked in Botswana with the likes of Slizer, Franco and Buju Muju.
As luck would have it, he was unfortunately deported from Botswana in 2010. He then went to Highfields, Harare where he joined the Hyena Stars band and briefly shared the stage with them.
The following year in 2011, he joined the Combined Brothers band which was based at Odzi, near Mutare. When that band split up he and some of its members went to join Hosiah Chipanga’s group in 2012.
In the same year he gave a well-received performance at the Mzee Bira in Mupandawana, Gutu.
In 2015 he made a video with Amos Mahendere and Zimpraise named Psalms and Rumbidzo.
As a versatile musician he also started voluntary work at Ishe Anesu Disability Centre in Glenview where he was helping in the rehabilitation of people with disabilities, a trade which he had learned from his grandfather in 2018.
In 2022, Siza worked at Matthias and Mildred Ministries in Zimre Park as a Choreographer. In the same year (2022) he made a music video with Munyaradzi Munodawafa in a song titled Ndirikuona Nyasha.
Last year, in 2023, on the 26th April, he was on 3Ktv programme titled ‘People and Earth.’ He was also at Save Beach Bash Gala with a band which called itself Kuendamberi Express.
He has just completed the recording of yet-to-be titled traditional single which will be released later this year.
At the moment Siza lives at Churu Farm with his wife and four-year old son where he is also known as a herbalist who has helped many people with diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heartburns, prostate cancer and other ailments.
He is currently working on going solo, but needs to develop his audiences first with other musicians before he goes it alone.
Audience development is a complicated issue. It is something that requires public trust and confidence into what it is one is doing. Every artiste and arts organization is looking for ways to establish a fan base and an audience and is trying to answer the same question. We’ve identified a problem and we’re going to “build” something to solve it. Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? But building oneself as a musician and attracting large audiences is quite a challenge, as we know. So how can Siza build his own audience without going through these challenges?
It’s not simple. It’s so complex, in fact, that I think that the question itself is actually a linguistic deception, a euphemism perhaps, that cleverly masks the enormity of the task. When we ask “How do we develop and maintain a strong audience?” what we are really asking ourself is “How can we convince hundreds of people to alter and expand their aesthetic sensibilities and their cultural proclivities so that they include the promotion of my music to such an extent that they will attend my concerts?
That’s a tall order that seems insurmountable. Frankly speaking, it can’t be done, at least not as part of a prefabricated “strategy” to build an audience. If a solution existed, wouldn’t one of the thousands and thousands of creative artists, agents, managers and the many music collectives, societies and alliances have found it?
Siza seems confident that he will soon get there.
Music promotion needs experienced people. It is not a fly-by-night activity where anyone who thinks they can make money by singing and dancing can win the game without much thought put into it. This is why as can be seen from his many multi-talented activities mentioned above, Siza has decided not to put all his eggs in one basket.
As stated before, he sings, he dances, he sells herbs to the needy. He is also a motor mechanic, an entrepreneur and a businessman. The sky is the limit for Siza.
Last year Siza performed at the Save Birchenough Bridge Festival with the Garanga Cultural Ensemble where his star shone like a diamond. The audience loved it.
For now, we keep wondering what the future holds for Simon Muzangwira also known as Siza in his circles.
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