Gedicht

Comrade Fatso

Side by side

Mutupo

Ndiani opinda nawo mwenje mudziva
Ano bvunza rino gwiti nezvechitupa
Wongorora
Tarisisa
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Ndiani opinda nawo mwenje mudziva
Ano bvunza rino gwiti nezvechitupa
Wongorora
Tarisisa
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo

What’s my identity?
What’s my identity meant to be?
Is my identity meant to be a white boy from Zimbabwe?
Is my identity meant to be veldskoens and rugby?
Or is my identity meant to be an English boy drinking tea?
Watching Arsenal on TV
Shopping on Oxford Street
Listening to Rock and Break beats
Or should my identity defy expectation
Defy nation
Defy time and place
Defy class and race
Shock each one calling me kaffir
Shock each one calling me murehwa
Wipe the bullshit from their eyes
Make them see me for I ’n’ I
’Cause you won’t see me in your history books
So take a good look
You won’t see me on ZBC
’Cause that’s just not me
Ndiri mwana wevhu, ndiri mwana weconcrete
I’m a child of the soil, I’m a soul of the street

Ndiani opinda nawo mwenje mudziva
Ano bvunza rino gwiti nezvechitupa
Wongorora
Tarisisa
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo

Ndiani opinda nawo mwenje mudziva
Ano bvunza rino gwiti nezvechitupa
Wongorora
Tarisisa
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo
Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo

You wanna put me in a box
Cut out my tongue, chop off my locks
You want me to fit your stereotype
You want me to fit your stereotype of being white
Well I don’t fit into a nation of steotypes
One, the name’s Farai, handiti
Ende yes, ndiri muvheti
Two, I ain’t no agent of the imperialists
Fuck that, I’m very indigenous!
My roots run from Shamva to Bikita
So you can choke on your hate propaganda
’Cause I’m descended from Nehanda
I’m desended from every freedom fighter
Regardless of tribe or skin colour
’Cause my ideals are what define me
Not my P-I-G-M-E-N-T
Our identities are fluid as the Zambezi
Our rivers’ll rise soon ’n’ then you’ll see

MUTUPO=TOTEM Toyi toyi chimurenga ndiwo mutupo . . . =Who walks into the lake holding a candle [traditional Shona proverb signifying someone who’s stupid] / And asks this freedom fighter for an identity card / Hold on / Look / Struggle is my totem / Struggle is my identity / Struggle is my totem murehwa=white boy ZBC=State-run Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Ndiri mwana wevhu, ndiri mwana weconcrete=I’m a child of the soil, I’m a child of the concrete Farai, handiti=Farai [traditional Shona name], isn’t it Ende yes, ndiri muvheti=And yes, I’m a white boy Shamva; Bikita=Rural areas in Zimbabwe Nehanda=Liberation war hero