Popular singer Greatman, has turned to vending as the lockdown has started taking its financial toll on him.
The ‘Pandakazvarwa’ hitmaker has resorted to selling vegetables on the streets in order to generate income.
With the whole country under lockdown, many self employed people, including musicians who mostly have to rely on live shows have felt the blow.
Greatman took to his Facebook account to announce his latest business venture saying music wasn’t paying at the moment.
Raramo yandikona nano kufa,izere nejambwa nekudzungaira !! Ndofunga mukungoonawo zvikuitika,this covid 19 yatidzidzisa zvakawanda.bdafunga kuronga musika wamirivo namatomatosi,namapotato,zvinobuda ere guys…zvemusic zvakuoma izvviiiii which can be roughly translated to
(Life is hard and full of misery and I have given up. We can all see what’s happening, this Covid-19 pandemic has taught us a lot. I’m going to try out vending vegetables, including, potatoes, tomatoes. Will this work out guys? The music gig is becoming difficult at the moment)
Most musicians in Zimbabwe are finding it hard to generate income, from their craft alone at the moment and have had to rely on other business interests or their savings.
Some are also live streaming their performances.
Royalties from album sales are almost non existent as most of the music in the country is pirated. To all those who are curious as to who Greatman really is or are not familiar with him , he has written a full profile on his Facebook page as well
It says
Tongai Gwaze (born 24 June 1993),better known as Greatman is a Zimbabwean afro fusion musician and song composer. His name arose due to his acceptance that he can be a great artist despite being disabled.
Greatman started his music career in 2011 and released his nine track 1st studio album in 2017 titled ” Chikara muno”,how ever the album was not successful.
He then found success in 2018 with the release of his eight track 2nd studio album “Cheziya “,which features Suluman Chimbetu in the well known track called ‘Pandakazvarwa ‘.
The song is a biography of Greatman’s life’s he was rejected by the community due to his physical disability and has been living with that thought until he was inspired by the message in Jah Prayzah’s song ‘Sungano’
.Greatman was born at Gudubu village 8 mhangura to Ratidzo and Ratidzai Gwaze. He attended his primary school by Jairos Jiri and Mhangura high school.
Greatman has claimed in interviews that the main reason he started music was due to the neglect he encountered since he birth.
People had no faith in a disabled figure but he then proved them wrong by engaging in an industry that has proved he’s got talent in his voice.
