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Feature
Tarisai Maringire
It’s never easy, getting to the top and
building a brand. It comes with a
devoting a lot of time to that cause.
For Cynthia Mare it is something that
she really knows well and she is ready to
put in the work to achieve her dreams.
Tracking her down was not easy as
she hopped from one meeting to another.
rehearsing in the capital we sat down and
had a chat about her musical journey.
As I arrived where she was rehearsing,
I was serenaded by her soul-soothing and
touching music.
The song bird was in the company
of talented vocalists and Pakare Paye
guitarist Donald Kanyuchi, strumming
his guitar on the track “Shinga”.
Cynthia Mare who has a knack of
coming up with hits from her real life
she composed the song “Shinga” after
her mugging horror in which she lost
her handbag with laptop, iPad, camera,
“I wrote it after I got robbed, so it’s
like relating to the incident, when you
you need someone to be around for you,”
narrated Cynthia Mare.
Cynthia who grew up singing in the
AFM church in Manhenga, Bindura,
believes that going to the United Kingdom
was part of Gods plan to realize her long
cherished dream of being a songstress.
“From the youngest age I knew I
wanted to be a singer. I only managed
to start when my dad moved the whole
family to the UK. I would go to the studio
in my spare time, as at that time I was
going to university. I was young and had
energy for anything so it was fun,” she
said.
The songbird
recalls how she would
sneak out against her
father’s overtures that
she must concentrate
on her academics.
“I remember the
father that I wanted
he told me a straight NO.
“He didn’t support it at all. It was very
hard even when I was going to the studio
I used to go behind his back. But now he
is very proud of me,’’ she said.
The “Zuva Rimwe” hitmaker attracted
the attention of a UK recording label,
Outnumbered which went defunct before
songs as an independent artiste.
“They thought they had found a new
Sunshine Anderson, as my voice was
husky like hers so they wanted to do that
American RnB stuff. That’s how I ended
up singing RnB.
“I sent some of my songs back to
Zimbabwe they started playing on radio
and my track ‘Summer Love’ was played
on BBA. People actually didn’t know that
I was Zimbabwean,” she said.
After her graduation at BCUC
University where she obtained a
Nursing, Cynthia started to
fund her music through
her income. Finding
the love of music too
powerful to resist she
quit her job as a nurse
in the United Kingdom
to concentrate on her
music career.
“The fact is I love music
more than anything, made it easy. I
would save up my money and pay for
professional recording; I didn’t have
anyone sponsoring me. I had to make
things happen, no one was coming to my
doorstep saying Cynthia I want to make
you a superstar,” she said.
While she lived in UK she teamed up
with Nigeria’s 2 Face Idibi’s manager,
who assisted her in doing collaborations
in Nigeria and promotional tours. She
also worked with UK rappers, and had
videos on MTV Base.
It was her song “Catch me when I
fall” taken from her 2010, album entitled
“Summer of Love” that put her on the
map as a serious singer in Zimbabwe.
So far she has won three awards
BEFFTA Awards, ZIM Achievers Award
and a ZIM Award in her musical journey.
“It was amazing I didn’t recognize that
people are appreciative, it’s just amazing
when people appreciate what you are
doing,” she says.
The diva is not slowing down as
she continues to shine and stay
on top of her game. There is not
even a shadow of doubt in her
mind that it was the right
decision to retrace her roots
after ten years in the United
Kingdom.
“I moved to the
UK when I was 16,
I decided to come
back home to
reinvent myself
Cynthia Mare
all give that
package to
Zimbabwe.
After that
Page 8 The Parade - Zimbabwe’s Most Read Lifestyle Magazine
August 2014