As I write this, I have received news that the Zimbabwean music fraternity has lost yet another illustrious musician. Admire Kasenga passed away on the 3rd October, 2004, may his soul rest in peace. Admire Kasenga and his band Ngosimbi
Crew was the most underestimated within the music industry yet he has the most outstanding compositions and all his album releases are catalogue sellers. His albums do not enjoy that much of airplay yet they sell very well to earn good royalties. In his early thirties, Admire was a handsome soft spoken and very unassuming person. He told me the story of how it all started. Sometime in the early nineties he got a job as a handy person at Madzekas Nightclub at Mutoko growth point along the Nyamapanda highway to Mocambique. This place is 140kms from Harare. The owner seeking to boost his beer sales decided to have a resident band at the nightclub and bought musical instruments. Admire had at one stage, learned to play guitar and had, had short stints with some bands in the area. So when Mr Bvunzawabaya, the owner was looking for a band, Admire volunteered and Mr Bvunzawabaya reluctantly agreed with some conditions. One such condition was that he would still continue to work by day and entertain guests by night. This condition applied to all the band members had assembled in short time. One can imagine finishing work at 5.00 p.m. have a three hour break and start again at 8.00 p.m. until the wee ours of the morning. Admire and his crew acquitted themselves very well and became very popular with local populace. They are the ones who gave the name Ngosimbi Crew. Simbi is Shona language for steel metal and this name was tribute to their robustness given their work rate. They had their luck because getting a recording contract was not an uphill struggle. Their audition impressed Bothwell Nyamhondera and they were in. They had their first album ‘Sweet sixteen’ released in 1994.It made an impact although the sales were rather mediocre but their follow up in 1996 “Aunt Rhoda” was a hit album and remains so up to now.With growing popularity around Zimbabwe, the Ngosimbi Crew relocated to Harare and joined the greater metropolis club circuit in 1997. They are renowned performers who as well, come up with good compositions for the recording sessions. Once again may Admire Kasenga’s soul rest in peace.