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Dilon Djindji

Dilon Djindji is known as ‘a man of a thousand stories’. One of the oldest of these stories concerns the beginnings of his musical career at the age of just 12, when he started playing a guitar that he had made himself. But it is a more recent, if no less impressive, tale that relates the recording of his first international release – this time at the age of 75. A farmer’s son, Dilon was born on 14 August 1927 in Marracuene, a district capital in the south of Mozambique. He discovered his love of music at a very early age, and in 1939 built himself a three-string guitar made from an oil can. Three years later this home-made effort was replaced with a six-stringed version and, thanks in part to the supportive attitude of his family and friends, he began performing at parties and ceremonies with his uncle, Antonio Chikonela Jinge, and friend, Xavier Santos Pfumo. Shortly after he finished school in 1945, Dilon was nominated for a Bible course given by the Swiss mission at the Institute of Bible RICALTA. When he completed his studies nearly two years later, he became a pastor, and went to work on the island of Mariana (known today as Josina Machel). As well as playing the well-known styles zukuta and magica with musicians like Constancio Machiano and Ernesto and Armando Magaia, it was also during this period that Dilon began experimenting with marrabenta music, which was later to become the country’s main urban dance rhythm. Thanks to his energy and enthusiasm for the music, as well as the hundreds of performances he notched up around the country, Dilon made marrabenta music famous. His music and charisma are not easily forgotten, and to this day people still talk about these legendary shows. His repertoire of love songs (as well as his swinging hips) ensured a large female following, and he was often simply known as Marrabenta. His characteristic style was later copied and interpreted by followers such as Eusebio Johan Tamele, Francisco Mahecuane, Alberto Langa and Alexandre Jafete. He began working in the South African mines in 1950, but returned after four years to an agricultural cooperative in his home district of Marracuene. He married shortly afterwards (he and his wife now have eight children and thirty-two grandchildren), and in 1960 he founded his first band, Estrela De Marracuene (Star Of Marracuene). Other firsts were to come: four years later he made his radio debut on the Voz Africana (African Voice) station, and in 1973 his first single (‘Xiguindlana’) was released by Producoes 1001, where he was working as a production coordinator. Today, Dilon is as enthusiastic and energetic about his music as ever. At the age of 74, he performed outside Mozambique for the first time as a member of the multi-generational band Mabulu. During the group’s 2001 tour, audiences were treated to both his unstoppable vitality and light-footed dancing talents. He puts his continuing vitality down to the fact that he has never touched alcohol or cigarettes.