Entertainment / Music

A Review of the Zimbabwe Music Scene: What Rocked & Shocked in the Zim Music Scene In 2014

by Takunda Lee Shoko

24 Dec 2014 at 11:40hrs | Views

As 2014 draws to an end, we take a look at the events which rocked and shocked the Zimbabwe Music scene taking into account both the positive and the negative. It is safe to say that the Zimbabwean music factory exposed some of Zimbabwe's hidden talent and has propelled their art into the music mainstream over the year. 2014 is a year which saw music acts such as Tocky Vibes, takeover the airwaves, and lyrical geniuses such as Soul-Jah Love reinforce the depths of his creativity and lyrical mastery within the Zimbabwean masses and multi instrumentalist Jah Prayzah being crowned the heartthrob of the nation by many Zimbabwean women. The golden girl of the year was International star Tinashe whose album Aquarius went platinum and went on record during the Breakfast Club Show on US radio station 105.1FM to cement her Zimbabwean roots, which won her the hearts of 13million Zimbabweans across the globe.

2014 is also the year which saw the Zim Dancehall genre capture the hearts of many Zimbabweans both on the home turf and in the Diaspora. The genre overtook other music genres across the Zimbabwean musical landscape to clinch the title of the most played and listened to music genre in Zimbabwe. 2014 also saw international and regional acts such as Kalado Uhuru, Mafikozolo, Bryan Adams, grace performances stages across Zimababwe and in return many Zimbabwean artists such as Mookomba Oliver Mutukidzi, Jah Prayzah ShinsoMan,Soul Jah Love Seh Calaz, Killer T, Ras Pompey, Jay C, Drum Dada, Hope Masike, Tariro NeGitare, among many others go went on International and regional tours showcasing Zimbabwe's Arts and Culture through music. This is deemed to be the highest number of international and regional tours ever recorded in the history of Zimbabwean music business. Among countless positives, the Zimbabwean music scene was also rocked by numerous controversial storm and negative rains which hindered growth of the industry to achieve the forecasted success for the year by critics. Artists such as South African based dancehall artist Buffalo Souljah and Victoria Falls based Mookomba raised the Zimbabwean flag high by winning international and regional awards such as the MTV,Channel O and Songlist Music awards, despite their music not getting enough air play in the Zimbabwean airwaves.

The highly anticipated John Legend tour of Zimbabwe was cancelled after thousands had purchased overpriced tickets to see the All of Me crooner. Sources,says that John Legend snubbed the Zimbabwe performance dates in favour of performing at a private wedding set of an AList personnel in South Africa. Jamaican dancehall star Kalado on his maiden tour of Zimbabwe was canned on stage by the fans after accusations of delivering an under par performance. The music scene was also rocked by also controversial Sting concert which was promoted by promoter and businessman Patson Chimbodza. The Jamaican styled concert saw Zimbabwean police intervene and threw teargas on party revellers at City Sports stadium after some fracas broke out between Soul Jah Love and Seh Calaz, leaving many attendees of the concert injured. This year we rising stars such Tocky Vibes was rocked with accusations of impregnating a 13 year old and fathering a child with her, and recently he has being accused of becoming big headed as he refused to perform at the HICC alongside veteran Oliver Mtukudzi because there was a low attendance of reveller to the show and at the recent Mafikizolo show, the Rusape born chanter came in stage and performed while sat on a high rise royal throne, backed by marimba players and the Tocky Vibes fans were displeased with his performance and proceeded to can him off stage. TockyVibes was later involved in an bitter exchange of words with fellow artist Jah Prayzah after his poor Mafikizolo concert performance. For someone who started the year on a high, taking into account the UK Tour which never happened, the statutory rape accusations, Tocky Vibes has really ended the year on an unexpected low. Alick Macheso was also embroiled in bitter divorce proceeding which exposed the "Nhovagate" saga, where Alick was accused of excreting the seeds of his manhood to heal his newborn's nhova and wenton to demand a paternity test of his child with his ex-wife. Urban grooves and Hip hop fans, saw the "twitterbeef" between rapper Mudiwa Hood and rapper Stunner where they exchanged some bitter words on their lifestyle, art and skeletons in their closets. Jah Prayzah was also accused of stealing the concept and production of the song "Mwanasikana" from Ghanaian musician Emmanuel Samini's 2007 hit track titled "Samini which he later admitted to infringing artistic copyrights of the Ghanaians musician.

Lyrical genius SoulJah Love parted ways with manager Zhuwawu in bitter circumstances which saw Soul Jah Love stripped off his lavish cars, lifestyle and a roof over his head. SoulJah Love accused his then manager of exploitation, trying to bed his to be wife Bounty Lisa. The UK based Zimbo fans endured one of the most disappointing year, as many scheduled performance and tours from acts such as Jah Prayzah, veteran Oliver Mtukudzi, Thomas Mapfumo, Sulumani Chimbetu, Tocky Vibes among many were cancelled because visa processing issues though some promoters blamed the ebola crisis over the tour cancellations. UK promoters Y2K Entertainment and One Heritage turned sour after the Zvirikufamba Seyi Tour which was headlined by Jay-C, Lady Bee,DhaDza D and supported by other less seasoned acts such as Lewaz Skattah, Ras Pompey Loud H flopped and accusations of non-payment of artists performance fees and riders for artists such as Jay C and Loud H were thrown at Y2K Promotions for not honouring their part of the contract. The accusations, were vehemently denied by Y2K Promotions.

2014, also saw the re-launch of the ZIMA awards after a five year hiatus. The awards were screened on the Zimbabwe national television by was rocked with controversy over the Song of the Year award which was awarded to veteran musician Leonard Zhakata, who was not a nominated recipient of the award and there were also noted discrepancies over the categories and the credits the awarding panel took into consideration before awarding the shortlisted nominees as winners. In the UK, the ZIMMA UK awards also went as planned and were hosted by musicians Jusa DeMentor and Shanky. The awards were applauded for recognising unknown and upcoming talent such as Joe Shyna, Faith Love among the gong recipients, but awards were criticised for not being held in a more central location, poor programme planning and false advertising a #buyaticket and win a flight to Zimbabwe competition in order to sell more tickets. The ZimHipHop Awards were very disappointing as yet again they were heavy criticism over the judging panel, poor coverage and the short listing of nominees. Til this day, no one knows who won what. Nox also had a very dry year as he missed out on winning any awards across all the music awards hosted in the Zimbabwe music scene this year. His lowest low came last week when he flew to the UK to play alongside South African veteran Freddie Gwala to an audience of only 7 people. There was the launch of the ZimDancehall awards, which saw top of the class of the dancehall scene, get awarded with top honours. The veteran and Godfather of Zimbabwean music, was awarded with a Doctorate degree from the University of Zimbabwe for his services and achievement in the Zimbabwean music industry.

Its was a good year for Cynthia Mare who managed to established herself as a top class musician and took away several gongs the at the ZIMA awards after returning to Zimbabwe to re-launch her career. DJ Stavo is also one musician who managed to achieve regional success which his music managing to secure regional collaborations from South African based artists such as Fiesta Black,Shota,Teddy Bears and Mandoza. There was a lot of improvement in the visual arts area of the music business. Directors and Producers such as Angel Arts,Andy Cutta and Slimaz Pro have released some international quality visuals for several musicians including Sanni Makhalima,Cynthia Mare, Jah Prayzah, McKnife,Drum Dada, BlackBird, DJ Stavo among others. Other UK and American based artists who released quality visuals for their music were, Joe Shyna, Moe Makaya, Kapital K, Beka,Kazz, Boyz Retonaz, Jusa Dementor and John Smarts Aaron Manatsa and the Green Arrows among others. Productions have gotten better as the producers have mastered the skills of mastering audio in the AfroPop , RnB, Jazz and Hip Hop but there has been a surge of riddims productions flooding dancehall scene as more producers are trying to showcase their talent which has led to some riddims of poor quality being released before the production has been professionally mastered. 2014 is the year which saw the high flying socialites in the Zimbabwean community both in Zimbabwe and the diaspora turned from being dancehall fans and consumers and overnight turn into pronsumers. For these socialites, having a riddim named after you is now an accessory to cement their high flying and balling status, so they go of pay upcoming producers such as DJ Fydale ,T-man and PTK among others to name the instrumental after them. In some way, this has been have argued that they are investing in the promoting of the new age genres of Zimbabwe.

As we draw the curtain on 2014, here are the Top Ten Zimbabwean Artists who are tipped to take over the airwaves in the locally and internationally with their music

LOCAL MUSIC CHARTS

1) Thelma - (AfroJazz) - Fona