Mozambican music is in mourning. Salimo Muhamad died on Wednesday night. The author of “Mamana Maria” and “Sambrowera fandango” had been hospitalized at the Maputo Central Hospital for over a week. Domingos Simeão Mazuze Júnior is his registered name, having been called Salimo Muhamad when he converted to Islam. He was born on August 13, 1948, in Xai-Xai, Gaza, and would have turned 76 in a few days. He showed an interest in music from a young age, but it was in the 1970s, while serving in the Air Force in Portugal, that he made his first recordings. And then several albums followed. Upon returning to the country in 1974, Salimo Muhamad began to perform, initially, with his brother Alexandre Mazuze, a collaboration that lasted until 1977, when he was arrested and taken to the re-education camp in Bilibiza, Niassa. Those who the authorities at the time considered subversive were held there. Back in Maputo, after his punishment in Niassa ended, in the 1980s, he formed the group Xigutsa Vuma with Pedro Langa and other artists, which did not last long but left its mark on the production of so-called Mozambican light music. Their songs, covering themes of love, social criticism and political activism, include “Mamana Maria”, “Bilibiza”, “Xantima ibodlela”, “Magubane”, “Gungula nhautomi”, “Sambrowera fandanga”, among others. The song “Xantima ibodlela”, considered a call for reconciliation, recorded in the 1980s, at the height of the civil war in Mozambique, was banned from radio broadcasts. In it, the singer invited the warring parties (Frelimo and Renamo) to exchange weapons for dialogue, which happened in 1992, in Rome, after a million deaths and much destruction. The music lover saw a lot of talent in the country, but little investment. In addition to singing, Muhamad, who also had a degree in decorative painting, was a film actor, with a role in the feature film Tempo dos Leopardos, a 1985 production. In politics, Salimo Muhamad was a deputy in the Municipal Assembly of Matola, as a member of the MDM party. Source: O País
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