Name August Msarurgwa Role Composer | Died 1968 | |
Books Skokiaan (South African Song): Popular Standard; Single Songbook | ||
Skokiaan
August Musarurwa (usually identified as August Msarurgwa on record labels) was the Zimbabwean composer of the 1950s hit tune Skokiaan (also known as Skokiyana, Skokian).
Contents
History
The most extensive description of Musarurwa is found in the Zimbabwean newspaper, The Herald[1].
According to The Herald, Musarurwa was born and raised in the Zvimba (map) district of Mashonaland, a region in the north of what was then Southern Rhodesia. He attended Marshall Hartley School before moving to what was then Salisbury (Harare) to find work. After working as a clerk for a tobacco company, he joined the British South African Police as a 22-year-old. The BSAP employed Musarurwa as an interpreter, but later he transferred to the police band.
He left the BSAP to work for the Bulawayo Cold Storage Commission, living in the company's compound. As leader of the African Dance Band of the Cold Storage Commission of Southern Rhodesia, Musarurwa recorded Skokiaan as an instrumental in 1947. A second version of the tune was released in the United States by London Records in 1954 under the name of the Bulawayo Sweet Rhythms Band, as Musarurwa's band was now called.
Louis Armstrong met Musarurwa in November 1960 during his African tour. According to The Herald, Armstrong gave Musarurwa a jacket and invited him to visit the United States. The visit was cancelled due to the death in 1962 of Tandiwe, Musarurwa's spouse.
August Musarurwa died in 1968.