Tormented Soul by Matias Xavier— The Song Played Whenever A Zimbabwean National Hero Dies A.K.A The ‘yeh yehi yei yei’ Song

Published: 15 Sep 2019 at 00:00 UTC Updated: 28 Oct 2019 at 00:00 UTC

Whenever a Zimbabwean national hero dies, the radio stations and TV network eulogies them with this song. The song has a man who sings “yei yehi yei yei” accompanied by a soft guitar. It’s such an obscure song so it’s really hard to search for it by its lyrics.

Given how the former long-running president Robert Gabriel Mugabe died on the 6th of September 2019, I finally managed to find the song thanks to a fellow Zimbos who posted to pay respects.

The name of the song is Tormented Soul by Matias Xavier. It was made in honor of Samora Machel after he died. Not sure how Zimbabwe broadcasters started using it but it’s pretty much a part of Zimbabwe now.

You can learn more by reading In Search of a Tormented Soul. You can also listen to the song on Youtube.

Rest In Peace Gushungo¹. You’ve had a long life.

Not sure why he’s called that. It could be that Gushungo is his totem in which Gushungo itself is probably a lion. ↩︎