New Khuxman Video a Prayer for Africa

The reason why it is said prayer can move mountains is simple! It is because God is in the mountain-moving business! He knows exactly what to do to remove any and every "mountain" that comes our way.

Most of us will ever have that perennial pipeline dream to enter the presence of the President, but to the contrary, everyone through prayer can enter into God's presence and make requests on behalf of others.

There is a man who is well conscious of that religious reality. That man is Khuxman, the mercurial musician hailing from the City of Kings. Khuxman has just unleashed a mind-blowing video that that has the power to swiftly drive even a hardhearted and unsympathetic individual into joining the compassionate world of charity.

It is a music video that has got a potential to instigate even the inexorable and cruel person into calling for the renewal of the goal of a world without poverty, diseases, wars, natural disasters and nuclear weapons.

The kind of music that will propel even the pitiless rowdy delinquent into praying for the shameless rampant world superpowers to stop destroying what humanity has built and all that humanity love.

The singer himself says the song LETS UNITE is about "peace love and harmony that we all yearn for in our beloved continent AFRIKA.

There is so much hatred and selfish greed in Africa as evidenced by endless civil wars going on. In this song I am encouraging my brothers and sisters to come together as one.

Let us do away with all this tribal and racial hatred. That is the message in this song", appeals Khuxman- real name Khulekani Bethule.

After watching and hence engaging in a critical analysis of  the video, I was left with no doubt in my mind that the time is right to heed Khuxman's prayer and give every nation in Africa the chance to choose its own tomorrow, as President Obama once said,  free from the shadows of yesterday.

In the video, Lets Unite, Khuxman preaches a gospel of peace to all nations of this world.

The video is a thorough and absolute lesson to human nature. It is a lesson that humanity must come together to save this planet.

That humanity should-with determination-make a resolution that people should cease the devilish ideas of exposing the children, the future and the tomorrow people to living in a world where the oceans rise and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.

But to stand as one and seize the moment in Khuxman's prayer and give our children back their future.  "It's not that I came up with the idea really," explains Khuxman.

"The song is in fact inspired by true events that are taking place in my community. All I did was to chronicle the happenings in form of music", added Khuxman.

Music was never an acquired concept for Khuxman. It is a characteristic inherently ingrained in his person- a part of his innermost nature.

"I can't really say I started this music thing, but I think I was born with it because I can't even remember when exactly I started it, though I can remember when I was in my early primary schooling days at DETE. I would make my own drum set using old tins and people would marvel at the skill I had at such a tender age. "

"I was eventually invited by Pastor Rabson Sibanda of the Baptist church and I can safely say that's the man who taught me a lot in as far as playing instruments is concerned", emphasises the artist.

According to Khux, he is a man inspired not only by the zeal to educate, inform and entertain, but also by the gusto to preserve the ever eroding Ndebele culture that is constantly facing the prospect of extinction through domination by other neighbouring and influential cultures.

"I am in this industry to entertain and educate at the same time. At the moment I'm working on bringing back those old, cultural Ndebele songs so that they don't die since the current generation are not exposed to them" goes Khuxman.

The video song, Lets Unite is the title track from a ten track album by Khux. The album contains other massively interesting tracks such as the advisory track Ingculazi, Bayadlala-a passionate testimonial to the pride of Matabeland, Highlanders Amahlolanyama FC, as well as my personal favourite party tune Egigini and other adorable tunes. As Khux confirms, the objective of the video is to bring about the African feeling to the music, with the design of selling the rich African culture to the entire world.

"The making of this video was an interesting journey because it was the first time I have to sing and dance in traditional regalia".

As the man himself highlights, the shooting process itself was not a walk in the park. The video shooting process was, like many before, also a victim of those challenges associated with any individual who could be found in possession of a camera in a perennial camera paranoid Zimbabwean environment.

"The highlight of the making of this video was when we were in the middle of a shooting.

War veterans appeared and accused us of using their plot without their permission. But when they heard the song itself they started dancing and clapping." says Khuxman.

So it was simply the ‘niceness' of the track that saved the poor lives of Khuxman and crew from being mercilessly thrashed by the Rovayis.



Lets Unite is a video that features a solitary figure of Khuxman. "Its not that I decided to go it all alone, but the circumstances forced me to do so.

The ladies I recorded with had all left for South Africa and when I approached other theatre groups to work with me on the video, they demanded exorbitant payments and I thought 'let me just go it alone", explaining Khuxman.

Khuxman is arguably one of the finest musicians to ever emerge from Matabeland. I ask him where he gets his inspiration from. Without any hesitation, Khuxman gives me another sermon.

"There are quite a lot of musicians I admire so much and its impossible to mention them all but in brief I can say in Africa I get lots of inspiration from legends such as LOVEMORE MAJAIVANA, OLIVER MTUKUDZI, ALICK MACHESO, SOUL BROTHERS, SALIF KEITA, YOUSOUR NDOUR, DAN TSHANDA [SPLASH], RAY PHIRI.OSKIDO and like I said, the list is just endless because I like ANY good music.

As long as the song is excellently composed, arranged, sung and the instrumentation played professionally, I just go for it no matter which genre".

Khuxman also gets inspiration from renowned international artists such as BABYFACE, QUINCY JONES, TIMBERLAND and some JAMAICAN reggae, ragga and dancehall musicians.

"I can say I learnt from all these musicians because you will find that in my career I have played with bands that play different styles and as a solo artist I have also recorded different genres of music, which are influenced by different musicians".

Like many other aspiring musicians, Khuxman's road to fame was a long, winding path full of potholes and quagmires.

He laments the way Bulawayo musicians are treated in the music industry, especially in organised national events and festivals. "The lack of support from our own people also makes me sad", complains Khuxman.

Khuxman admits he has not been an active participant in music competitions before but vividly recalls  the year 2006 when there was a competition named the 'TRENDS MAGAZINE ARTIST OF THE MONTH' which was basically a competition amongst the urban grooves artists, a category Khuxman allegedly fell in.

"I was competing with all these popular youngsters from the whole country. Guys such as ROKI, STUNNER, MASKIRI, SKHU and all these others and I managed to get the top prize since my song MAAFRIKA was a national hit then". Proudly explains Khux.

How does Khuxman Practice? "I practise every day whenever I get a space in my mind. I practise when I'm sitting in the studio, in a kombi, in a queue somewhere...everywhere I can say because the way I practise differs.

At times I will be practising 'mentally', whereby I will be doing it alone such that the next person won't be realising what I'm doing. Then I also practise physically whereby I get my acoustic guitar or piano and I practise scales, chords and so on".

Lets Unite is a super duper video.  A socio-politically oriented music video that extends a hand to the people in the forgotten corners of this world who yearn for lives marked by dignity and opportunity and by security and justice. 

Given the commercial nature of modern world contemporary music, it is a rare phenomenon to witness a music video that passionately stand for the human rights of the wretched of the earth; that they can live free from fear and free from want.

It is my observation that the aspiration in the video Lets Unite is bigger than anything that drives people and nations apart. Hence-Khuxman proves in this song that it is no fibble-fable lie that through music, we can engage in that noble struggle to bring justice and peace to our world.

Titshabona Malaba Ncube is a Masters student in Town Planning at Newcastle University. He holds an Honours Degree in Town Planning, and a post graduate Diploma in Planning Law and a BA Degree from the University of Zimbabwe. He is the author of the Ndebele novel Igazi Labafo viewed and sold at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/160292

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