Difficult to please everyone, says Jah Prayzah

JAH PRAYZAH'S latest international track, Sendekera, was on the road to Zimbabwean record books yesterday as it had reached 70 760 views on You Tube as at 6pm.

The video to his duet with South African duo, Mafikizolo, was uploaded at midnight yesterday and was racing towards 100 000 views within 24 hours. There were 3200 likes against 96 dislikes, which suggests an overwhelming endorsement by music fans on that platform.

Looking at the responses he had received yesterday alone, Jah Prayzah feels Sendekera will compete with the record-breaking Watora Mari, his duet with Diamond Platinumz, in terms of You Tube views.

Watora Mari was launched in August last year and is now on 4,8 million views –an all-time Zimbabwean record.

"The responses so far have been very good and it might end up being one of my best videos as far as You Tube views are concerned. I would not want to compare the quality with Watora Mari but this one has had a very good start.

"Maybe it's because people had waited for it for long and also the hype around it."

He also explained why they released the audio and video at the same time.

"We had a challenge with the Mudhara Achauya video because there was a huge gap between the audio version and the video. By the time we released the video, people had already come up with their own scripts and there was disappointment on those who had expected a dance video for instance.

"So launching the two at the same time means the audience captures what we are trying to portray, without their own imaginations interfering as was the case with Mudhara Achauya."

But despite the record views on launch day, there was criticism from some observers which touched on things like the ‘school uniform' and bubblegum lyrics.

"SCHOOL GIRL FETISH"

The video to Eriza revolved around a dancing schoolgirl and there were cries of monotony when a similar scene appeared in the Sendekera video.

When one Milton Nyamadzawo posted, "Jah has a serious schoolgirl fetish…" the post generated the most responses.

However, in an EXCLUSIVE interview with H-Metro yesterday, Jah Prayzah said the script for Sendekera was different from Eriza even though there was a similarity in featuring a "schoolgirl".

"I think those people (critics) missed the humour there and instead focused on what they thought was my obsession with school girls. If it was about a school girl I would have picked someone young but instead we had Nhlanhla (Mafikizolo half), who is 38, putting on the school uniform and it was just a 10 second clip.

"That is completely different from what Eriza was about. "

"BUBBLEGUM SONG/LYRICS"

There were some observations that Jah Prayzah is abandoning his trademark "deep lyrics" and mbira instrument in pursuit of bubblegum music, which might cost him the mature followers.

The musician however, says he is treating singles differently from albums as he tries to reach out to all markets with Sendekera targeting an international audience.

"With these singles I am appealing to an international audience and influenced by the direction world music is taking where people are after enjoying the beat and the message is not prioritised given that it reaches an international audience that will not even understand the language.

"I will continue with my deep lyrics and mbira instrument for the album, which is largely for the Zimbabwean audience. Already I am working on my next album and it will retain all that people know about me from previous albums. "

Sendekera will not be on his upcoming album.

"It's already out and that's it. People might want to confuse it with Watora Mari but it (Watora Mari) was officially launched on the day we launched the album at HICC."

"MONOTONY "

Jah Prayzah denied that there are signs of monotony in Sendekera.

"Apart from the issue of schoolgirl that I have already addressed, there is nothing monotonous about Sendekera because when it comes to the beat it was the first time I combined my codes with house music.

"But I have a problem with the issue of monotony because I believe musicians have an identity, which makes it easy for fans to be able to identify their music in terms of arrangement, instruments and lyrics that are consistent.

"Once you abandon certain things about your music it is a problem and identity is important in music but then it is very difficult to make everyone happy. If you maintain something, the criticism is ‘izvi zvanyanya' and the moment you change it becomes a problem ‘why are you changing what made us love your music.'

UPCOMING VIDEOS

On Tuesday Jah Prayzah finalised a video to Tahle's "Give me more" song in South Africa. Tahle is the female member of the Military Touch Movement and the shooting was a one-day exercise.

"The script is a straightforward love story"

Next week on Wednesday, MTM will release the video for Nutty O's "Let's talk about it", which features ExQ.

On APRIL 19, MTM will release the video to Chekeche. It was shot in the capital a fortnight ago and features celebrities like Pokello, Ammara Brown, Madam Boss and Carlos Green.