Professor to perform at Bulawayo's Jock and Saddle tomorrow night

Kwaito and house music fans are set to celebrate Independence Day in style when prominent South African musician Professor performs at Jock and Saddle tomorrow night.

The show will mark Professor's highly anticipated return to Zimbabwe after his scintillating show  at the Kalawa Jazzme Invasion last December were he largely outshined a stellar cast of artistes that included Oskido, Berita Khumalo and Dr Malinga.

The kwaito artiste has been credited with the evolution of kwaito with his first solo album University of Kalawa released in 2010, reinventing the genre with its mixture of hard thumping house beats and kwaito lyrics delivered in Professor's calm voice.

The award winning album spurned hits like, Imoto, Lento and Baby.

Professor's latest album Orientation, released late last year, has also taken the airwaves and dancefloors by storm, with hits like Palesa, Fingerprints, One Night Stand and Baphi.

Local acts set to feature at the show include POY, Djembe Monks, Ama VIP, DJs Keezy, Slamma and Kananjo, while Gibson Ncube will be the Master of Ceremony for the night.

In an interview, one of the organisers of the show said the event would offer the city's youth a chance to celebrate Independence Day while listening to music of their liking, as they felt that this was a day that had not been celebrated enough in the past.

He added that bringing Professor was intentional as they wanted to bring the most popular artiste among youths in the city and Professor fitted the bill perfectly.

"People, especially youths do not celebrate Independence Day enough and that is something that we want to change with this show.

"Professor is the hottest and most popular artiste among youths regardless of the fact that he is South African and our intention was to bring someone like that for this show," he said.

He added that he was hopeful that the show would not be the last because they are planning to bring the most popular artistes every Independence Day.

"This is a special day and sometimes we forget to celebrate it properly. In other African countries  people take their Independence Day celebrations seriously, something that I feel we don't always do.

"So starting with this show we will try to bring the biggest artiste for Independence Day but all this depends  on how people respond to the show on Thursday," he said.

The cover charge for the show will be $10 and the organiser encouraged people to come in their numbers as early as possible to prevent long queues.

He added that they were determined to put up a good show regardless of how many people turned up, as they wanted to make sure those that attended got their money's worth.

"We always give a marvelous show to fans and that is what people who turn up on Thursday are going to get.

"We will make sure the show is great regardless of the number of people that come. I urge everyone  from entertainers and public figures to come as we look to celebrate Independence Day by partying hard," he said.

Professor will not be the only highlight for Independence Day, with a number entertainment activities lined up.

Globetrotting Bulawayo dance group Iyasa are also set to stage a show tonight at Basement nightclub in celebration of Independence Day.

The show is part of the club's annual Uhuru celebrations where they team up with Iyasa on the eve of the day marking the country's independence. The show kicks off at 8pm.

At White City Stadium, the day will be marked with song, dance and drama with festivities that kick off at 8am and ends at 5pm. Mike Mukangaza of Tongogara District Commission will also present a poem detailing the sacrifices that President Mugabe made for the liberation of the country.