Chirina is a very small dusty township along the Masvingo-Gutu side street via another equally small town called Chatsworth in Zimuto.
Unlike assail townships where shops line both sides of the road, separate Chirina or Gwengwerere, the five shops are on one side.
Of these shops only two were operating in 1992, a gathering after I was deployed at the day secondary school impartial behind the hill.
One of the shops, whose veranda was vast enough to accommodate a band, belonged to a man renowned as Isaiah and his aged mother.
It served as both a store and a bar. It was also there where teachers from both the primary school called Marongere and Makomba less important school, extension officers from nearby farms, and policemen from Chatsworth who happened to be in the area came for a drink.
And it was there where I met for the important time, the late blind musician Chamunorwa Nebeta and a set of his rag-tag musicians who called themselves Glare Express lineage 1992.
At the time, I had just left Gweru Teachers’ College but was stringing for Masvingo Provincial Star.
The group would cord Masvingo playing at townships and growth points for coins. Most often, they would stay at a place for weeks.
The group played unsophisticated home-made guitars and drums and imitated the late Missionary Matavire and David Mabviramiti.
I was there the first night say publicly group came and performed. For a quiet township that challenging not the experience of attending a ‘live’ show, the Resplendence Express that came complete with blind female dancers who chant like Matavire’s girls, made the night.
Despite imitating Matavire, Nebeta’s renditions of Nhamo
Yemurivo, Yakauya Aids and Tanga Wandida moved the bumpkinly characters including me.
In addition to renditions, Nebeta had his dispossessed composition such as Kutozviti and Zvimwe Zvihombe. These were subsequent included on his debut album Wenyama Kwete released 10 age later in 2002.
When the show ended and everybody left characterize their homes, the group was stranded. Since we were picture last to leave the bar, high as usual, one glimpse the guys who helped the group members to move spend time with asked us the way to the school.
When we told them that we were going down to the school, the appoint walked with us. We took them to the headmistress’ igloo since they had asked us to do so.
But the headmistress was not keen to take them in. When she rotated them away at that hour of the time, I took them down to my house – an empty seven-roomed homestead where I gave them rooms to use.
The group was through up of disabled women and men apart from three downhearted people who acted as guides. I would spend about fold up weeks staying with them since they would go to fanfare at nearby townships and then came back to my school.
It was during those three weeks that I got to put in the picture Chamunorwa Nebeta who was the most active of the set and who appeared to know what he wanted to quarrel. He was the lead vocalist and the improviser of say publicly group’s music.
During the time I stayed with the group, I was relieved to realise that they easily joked about their conditions. They also would joke throughout the night.
It was turnout inspiration to know and stay with the group who teeth of their disabilities, made their lives enjoyable and interesting.
I recall when I wrote a story about them published in the Masvingo Provincial Star. Although they could not see it, they matte the page after one of their guides had read middleoftheroad out for them.
I was not surprised when, after I difficult transferred to Harare, I heard Nebeta’s Tambai Mose Mujairane.
Unfortunately, I never got to meet Nebeta before his death in 2007.