Summary
WHEN DAMBUDZO GAVE THESE and a few more children's stories to publishers, he was told that they were not suitable for children.
Could the six-year-old illustrator relate to them? Did he understand the stories which ‘contain themes that deal with adult cynicism but in a playful child's narrative voice’, the adult Max Wild was asked years later. He was a well-known jazz musician by then and performing on his saxophone with Zimbabwean musicians.
If I remember, ‘The Magic Cat’ was less cynical, and I definitely related to it in a very childlike way. ‘Baboons of the Rainbow’ got a lot darker, especially as the story went on. I didn't think twice about the violence, and thought it was very entertaining, as you can see from my drawings. I remember not understanding some of the adult stuff towards the end, like the drinking, cigar smoking, and listening/playing music. For me it didn't really make sense or go with the story at the time and seemed a little irrelevant. In fact, Dambudzo and I stayed up pretty late that night, finishing the illustrations, and I remember getting tired and him helping me with the drawings. The last couple of drawings he did himself, when I had gone to bed. You should be able to notice the subtle differences.
Well, naturally, I now understand them better, and see the different layers. Although they went over my head at the time, I suspected that Dambudzo was up to something, hinting at something beyond the actual script. Reading them now, I recognise the pain and violence in them, but I remember that this was never an issue for me back then as a child, because Dambudzo made it sound so natural and almost comical. It seems to me that's how he might have viewed his own life.
He was very intense and, at the time, I thought he could act a bit crazy.
I think the key is that his mood could change very quickly. But when he was in form and focusing, he was very much in the moment, very funny, and definitely very nice to us kids. I think he liked me, and children in general. He could relate to our lack of inhibitions and the way life was so uncomplicated and easy to us. He was always very kind and caring towards me.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- They Called You DambudzoA Memoir, pp. 108 - 110Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2022