Music lovers have been asking if there is any bad blood between two orchestras - one led by the fiery bassist Alick Macheso and another fronted by shrewd lyricist Sulumane Chimbetu.

Those who have been following the two groups closely will admit that relations between Macheso and Sulu have never been smooth since the former soldier took over the reigns of the Orchestra Dendera Kings.

The two have never shared the stage save for the "Big Five" concerts organised by Chipaz Promotions.Critics say Macheso has been working with every other dendera group except for Sulu's outfit.

Macheso has toured around the country with Allan Chimbetu as his supporting act up until Allan started staging his own live shows.

Later, Macheso took on board Tryson, who many people thought was the most underrated but talented musician in the Chimbetu family.

Since that time Macheso has been touring extensively with Tryson to the extent that the "Madhawu" hit-maker was virtually paying for everything for Tryson including his salary and his band.

Those in Sulu's camp have already attributed the skirmishes that occurred during the festive holidays to Macheso's grand plan of destabilising Sulu's outfit when four of his dancers deserted him minutes before going on stage for a gig at Harare's Jazz 105.

But it appears those were mere allegations as "the rebels" left Sulu over a salary dispute and Macheso was also attending to his own problems.

Macheso is no stranger to rivalry as he once had "beef" with the late Tongai Moyo, although the "beef" was not documented, it was easy for any music lover to read between the lines.

And when the news that Macheso lost three of his band members to Sulu in the past week, it gave credence to the long held view that Macheso and Sulu are "rivals".

Some of the members who have been co-opted into the new-look Orchestra Dendera Kings include Elton Muropa, Noel Nyazanda and Francis Dhaka popularly known as "Franco Slomo".

Breaking the silence on who had joined the band following the dismissal of four of Orchestra Dendera Kings long-serving members, band manager, Knowledge Nkoma confirmed that three of Macheso's former band members were now working for Sulumane.

"A lot has been happening in the past two weeks and we have been under immense pressure dealing with internal issues in the band.

"But everything is now clear. The three will be joining us and I am happy to say that they will be part of the band this Friday when we resume our shows with a gig at Jazz 105," he said.

Nkoma added that they will also use this show to unveil new songs on a yet to be named album that Sulu has been working on.

"We want to assure our fans that they will not be disappointed with what we have in store for them."Contrary to claims that the band is going to collapse, it is expected to perform better than before," he said.

In an interview with The Herald, Slomo confirmed receiving a Mercedes-Benz worth US$10 000 from Sulu as a signing on deal. "I appreciate the fact that Sulu saw value in me and who would not make such a move," Slomo said.

Though the deal was lucrative, there are those who think Slomo might have been elbowed out by his former bandmate Selemani "Majuice" Mpochi.

The two were believed to be fighting for Macheso's attention whenever they performed. Long-serving Slomo was no longer "the blue-eyed boy" since Macheso had set his eyes on Peter "The Street Kid" Kagomera and Majuice.

So joining Orchestra Dendera Kings was probably the only option for Slomo to avert competition and frustration while for Sulu it gave him a golden chance to hit back at Macheso.

Sulu believes that since he now has Slomo on his payroll it would help spruce up his act and in turn lure fans to his live shows while Macheso pins his hopes on Majuice.

One thing that you can not ignore is that Slomo made a name for himself at Orchestra Mberikwazvo but the question is what is it that he will bring to Orchestra Dendera Kings when the choreography and music are different from his former group?