Fikisa disband over witchcraft claims

What promised to be a good beginning and promising future for traditionalist music group Fikisa has ended on a sour note with the band members taking to task leader of the group Geoffrey Thom over witchcraft claims, The Nation has established.

According to details sourced, the group has disbanded with band-leader Thom now performing as a solo artist while brothers Selemani and Saidi Yusuf have formed their group which has also recruited Cassim Ali who once performed with Fikisa.

In an interview, the two sides admitted the disbandment.

Saidi said the main reason for the separation is distribution of funds.

“Since we started to perform as a group, we did not know how much we got for each show and we were not happy about it. We tried to ask, but Thom was not interested in discussing the matter. I can reveal that there has been misunderstanding on this for a long time, but we kept on working for the passion of music,” said Saidi.

He added that there have been disagreements in the group to an extent that Thom used to spread negative stories about the two.

“He was going out telling people that we were bewitching him. We were not pleased with this and when we communicated it to our parents, they advised us to report him to the village head where we also agreed to go our separate ways,” he said.

Thom, who initially denied the development before asking the reporter not to write about the story for reputation’s sake, said the brothers sued him for calling them witches.

“They summoned me to Chief Kawinga, saying I called them witches and they were practising witchcraft to disturb my endeavours. But this is not true. What I said was that any rude behaviour is likened to witchcraft. I was not happy with their behaviour. How can you work with someone who doesn’t want to talk to you?

“They do not understand how we spend money and as a patriotic leader, I wanted to make their future better by saving some money for us but they disagreed. Misunderstandings on money distribution has been there, but the way one reacts provokes anger and their behaviour was not pleasing to me. I told them point blank that what they were doing is witchcraft and if they aim to destroy me, they would not win,”said Thom, adding that the chief found him guilty of calling the two witches and fined him two chickens.

Saidi admitted that Thom told them to save money, but said they refused to take it after he told them to keep their money in his account. He said this was after failing to open a group account.

“I have left the group for them, I will find my name and my work will be out shortly,” said Thom.

Nonetheless, Saidi said they are also coming with their name and they are currently working on their own music.

Fikisa started as a Cultural Village Troupe 19 years ago and rebranded into a music group three years ago under the tutelage of Nyimbo Music Company. They rose to fame with their hit Akamwire from their self-titled album.

Fikisa and Nyimbo Music Company parted ways last year after the group accused the music label of short-changing them on music sales.