August Musarurwa was born and raised in the Zvimba district of Mashonaland,[1] a region in the north of nowadays Zimbabwe, then a British colony in the south of Africa called Southern Rhodesia.
He attended "Marshall Hartley Primary School" before moving to find work to the capital city, Salisbury, the modern Harare.
[2] He left the BSAP to work for the Bulawayo Cold Storage Commission, living in the company's compound.
As leader of the "African Dance Band of the Cold Storage Commission of Southern Rhodesia", Musarurwa recorded Skokiaan as an instrumental in 1947.
The inscription on his grave reads Here lies August Machona Musarurwa, great singer and music composer, renowned the world over.