Alick Macheso under pressure

For Alick Macheso's Harare fans, last weekend shifted focus from the courts to the stage.

The musician performed in the capital after eight weeks of absence and it was the first time for the sungura ace to be on stage in the city since his nasty divorce saga with estranged second wife Fortunate "Tafadzwa" Mapako exploded.

Judging by the activity at the courts recently when Macheso went for his case with Tafadzwa, it appears the musician's fans are prepared to be behind their icon through thick and thin.

Attendances at Macheso's shows at Ice 'n' Fire Pamuzinda and Extra Mile Leisure Spot over the weekend confirmed this support. His followers are behind him and are unlikely to be swayed by the drama unfolding in the musician's private life.

However, beyond this support and the real life drama in Macheso's territory is apparent pressure that seems to be haunting the musician at his shows.

The musician is apparently under pressure to prove too many things to his fans. He seems determined to go beyond his way to show that his private life issues have not affected his performance and career yet signs of instability incidentally pop out from the musician's guard.

In the initial stages of the publication of the musician's divorce saga, Macheso did not want to play the song "Tafadzwa" that was created when he was head-over-heels with his estranged second wife. Macheso would turn down fans' request for the song until he realised he was shooting himself in the foot by letting personal issues creep into his eventful music life.

Now he plays the song. He did so last weekend at his Harare shows after fans requested for the song. At Pamuzinda, fans began shouting requests for the track and the musician bowed to pressure. As the first lead guitar chords of the song sounded out of the gigantic PA system, fans went wild and cheered the musician. However, after a few minutes into the song, fans seemed to sympathise with Macheso.

Instead of continuing with their cheers and dancing, the fans just stood and watched Macheso roll out the song.

"He does not seem to enjoy the song anymore. People should understand his motions and stop requesting for this song," said one female fan who is well known for supporting Macheso.

This is a song he did praising his fiancé who is now determined to expose him to the extent of making allegations about Macheso's body parts below the belt. This is the same song people are now clamouring for in obvious bid to provoke him.

Although he did his best to hide emotions as he played the song, it was clear he did not want to concentrate much on the lyrics. For the better part of the song, he let the instruments to the job while he was busy saluting people he recognised in the crowd.

The emphasis on the lyrics that used to be done with passion and exuberance has died. He obviously did it for the sake of his fans. Pressure has left him with no option but to play the song at the shows and claim that it was composed before he met his Tafadzwa.

Some fans went beyond limits to "salute" Macheso holding up their small fingers in apparent signals of the claim that Tafadzwa made about the musician's manhood.

But Macheso was not deterred and when he played many of his other hits he proved he still has the power to soldier on. Songs like "Madhau", Charakupa", Shedia", "Madhuwe" and "Macharangwanda" were done expertly and people enjoyed the show.

Among other things, Macheso wanted to prove he is still a good dancer as he went through serious paces for the better part of the show. He also showed his old guitar skills when he made his dancer Selemani "Majuice" Mpochi kneel with the guitar on his back while he used his foot and elbow to play it. It was an exciting show with its sombre moments.

Macheso shared the stage with Jah Prayzah and Jacob Moyana who gave good accounts of themselves in different ways.

Jah Prayzah tried to push his new songs from the album "Kumbumura Mhute" with little success. However, when he played old songs, fans went wild as they danced to songs like "Machembere", "Ngwarira Kuparara", "Maria" and "Ngoda".

The band's military drills were the crowd's favourite.

Moyana had a good night in office and proved that besides being controversial, he has good clean songs that can make it on the market. But the controversial tracks, "Munotidako" and "Sei Musingameche" were the crowd's favourites.

The weekend should have been a refreshing experience for Macheso's Harare fans.