“I used to sing in the school choir but I thought it was just routine. I didn’t see myself as exceptional. I thought l could only rap and at school I was nicknamed Cindy Raw,” she added.
“It was only in 2005 when my friend, Lorraine Dunduru, a recording artist for Chamhembe, pushed me into singing. She would always take me to the studio and ask me to sing whilst she listened,” Cindy said.
“I didn’t want to be a public personality. I just wanted the normal and predictable life of attaining education, getting a good job and getting married.”
She recorded her first album in 2006, Kukuda’ (Loving you). “My first album was a compilation of my very first songs, when I was taking music as a hobby; something I would do in my spare time,” said Cindy.
When she recorded her second album in 2010, she started to see her career as income-generating.
“Launching Tha Groove Theory online gave me the opportunity to reach out to the world and be recognised,” said the diva, who has been nominated seven times for the Zimbabwe Music Awards and National Art Merits Awards.
She revealed that being a female artist is not easy as it comes with a lot of stigma and stereotype.
“I have always asked myself whether I am doing the right thing taking music as a career because it takes a lot of sacrifice to be a musician, it’s like living a double life—being Cindy the artist and Cindy Rufaro Munyavi. Finance has been my biggest challenge as I have to sponsor myself always. I have realised that it’s hard for women to get sponsorship,” she said.
The 27-year-old singer was born in Highfields and attended six different primary schools as her family kept relocating. She has shared the stage with international artists like Beenie man, Akon, Sean Kingstone, Sean Paul and performed on the eviction night of Big Brother Amplified in South Africa last year.
“I give credit to the Lord for my success and my mother has been my pillar of strength. She is a level- headed woman who is always there to guide me,” she said. Her latest collaboration with Rockford Josphats, “Ndini ndinaye” is topping the charts on the local Power FM
Post published in: Entertainment