Diary Page 3: Met Bryan Kadengu, Marcus Gora and ohhh ya Tuku was there.

So this past  Worker's Day weekend was filled with concerts and shows all over the capital. The Chris Martin was the biggest show however I couldn't manage to attend that due to work commitments the following day and also cash constrains played a part.

So had planned a soccer filled weeknd, supporting my dear Tottenham Hotspur FC , then I came across this new festival, The Harare International Food and Music Festival and learnt of the Jazz night which was scheduled on Saturday night. The lineup won me over,  the fantastic Mokoomba, Dr Oliver Mtukudzi and others.....!!!.

Informed my team team "Zvikuhle" of the show and a few showed interest, well those who failed or were lazy to attend the Chris Martin Concert. Now because of the cash crisis at the Banks some were failing to get access to cash so it was looking quite dull. However in the late afternoon I picked up my friend and we just drove towards town. We decided to stop by the Borrowdale Racecourse to try and catch the exhibitions that were still open and maybe get to taste a few cuisines. 

After some few rounds enjoying the exhibitions, we came across Bryan Kadengu, Marcus Gora and Mr Wanyanya. 

I recognized Bryan Kadengu among the three and am such a big fan so had to get a pic and possibly have a chat. So greeted them and we managed to have a nice chat with these guys.They were really friendly. Learnt that one of the guys is manager of Mokoomba and the other one Mr Wanyanya (who is not in the pics as he offered to be the cameraman) is an event organizer and possibly one of the HIFM organizers....that's what I call meeting the right people at the right time.

The crazy thing was that Bryan and Mr Wanyanya managed to recognize me....crazy hey. After a couple of mins chatting we were given an opportunity to come after Mokoomba's perfomance and get a pic with the whole crew!!!!!!. We parted ways and let them continue with their walk.

Now with such an opportunity we had to attend the Jazz night and at that time we had enough cash for one person between the two of us. It was time to hustle. Fortunately luck was on our side that day and we managed to find enough cash for the tickets and a few drinks. As we waited for 9:00 pm (concert start time), We went to pick up another friend of ours for the show, we chilled at his place a bit and left for the show.

Got there after nine when Eve Kawedza was about to finish her set and have to say, I enjoyed her performance. Will definitely be searching for her music in the coming days. Next up was Daniel Jenkins but unfortunately for him, we had to go out and get a few drinks somewhere else as the prices there did not favour our pockets. Fortunately for us we overhead one of the organizers on a call saying Mokoomba will be getting on stage at 10 PM as we were getting inside so we knew what time we had to be back

My other two friends had neither been to a Mokoomba show nor did they even know one of their tracks so I did not want them to miss any part of Mokoomba's Set...I know Mokoomba always give a hell of a performance. The best live performers in Zimbabwe if you ask me. 

Mokoomba did what they did best and despite my friends not understanding a word (me included) of what Mokoomba were singing about (except the thank you's in between the tracks) their vibrant and energetic perfomance on top of their superb fusion music got them dancing. Their set was fantastic, and my friends till today are still asking me the name of the last track they performed. As for me loved every part of their perfomance and till now Nimukonda is still playing in my head, it has been on repeat all day. My phone however ran out of battery so could not get in touch with Mr Wanyanya to get that picture.

Next up and last act of the night was The Legendary Oliver Mtukudzi. He carried on from where Mokoomba had left and although his set was not as energetic as Mokoomba's set it had a lot of class. 

Made an observation during his set which confirmed something which I've been saying for some time. People like Tuku's past tracks much than the new ones, his best albums are from Nhava going back, yes the albums after contained maybe one or two popular tracks such as Undipasa Manyemwe, Pata Pata or Kudzinga Hwema but the albums in whole are weak compared to Nhava, Paivepo, Bvuma - Tolerance, Tuku Music, Vhunze Moto...etc. When he started to belt out the classics the small crowd went crazy and everyone started dancing which was no the case when he was singing the current/relatively new tracks at the beginning of his set. It was a great perfomance nonetheless.

We left towards the end of Tuku's set largely due to the weather, it was a chilly at that time. In overall it was a great show, I enjoyed myself, it was worth the $10...it was a bargain I might say. It seems my friends also enjoyed because noone complained, only compliments came from them. 

Despite the very low attendance the artists performed as if they were in a full stadium and such respect of fans is what makes these guys excellent at what they do. Will definitely attend a lot of their shows in the future.

Proud_Zimbo