Hard Times Never Kill

In much the same way as the late guitarist Ronnie Moipolai from Botswana, the blind guitarist and singer Daniel Gonora has greatly benefitted from YouTube clips of his busking going viral. It started some years ago, Gonora with his electric guitar and his teenage son Isaac on a battered and cobbled together drum kit. Although very popular on the streets of Harare, Zimbabwe, they were literally barely earning enough to feed the family. Daniel Gonora is actually a veteran of the celebrated Jairos Jiri Band, one of many Zimbabwean bands who folded during the AIDS crisis in the 1990s. Hard Times Never Kill is his first international release with a new band and it is hoped that this recording might generate sufficient interest to allow them to tour.

The record starts with a jaunty stripped down guitar and drum kit track – Daniel singing and Isaac playing his frantic and uniquely unfettered drum style. The second track has Daniel playing intricate acoustic guitar, followed by the raunchy ‘Mukoma Shadrek’. The larger ensemble Gonora Sounds play in the popular sungura style, a contemporary variation of the rumba, chimurenga and jit; with an excellent female vocal chorus that has elements of South African township music. A wonderfully optimistic release of a vibrant Southern African music style.