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Zimdancehall musician fakes death for limelight

by Bongani Ndlovu
27 Jan 2016 at 00:34hrs | Views
In a desperate attention seeking move meant to entice followers, Zimdancehall musician Nashie (real name Tinashe Mararanyika) faked his death last week.

The death hoax which was part of efforts to market his forthcoming album saw the Kuchibhorane hit-maker, through his girlfriend, communicating to friends that he had died in a car accident while travelling to Gweru.

The girlfriend initially sent a message with images of the accident scene saying: "Your friend Nashie asked me to tell you that he got involved in a serious accident on his way to Harare."

An hour later, she sent another message informing Nashie's friends that he had died.

As a result, most friends took to social media networks to express their shock and dismay at the death of the muso. Pictures of the vehicle in which Nashie had purportedly perished in soon went viral on Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

A concerned friend Calvin_Treazy tweeted: "Heard that Nashie Mushona Kuchibhorani passed away . . . I'm lost, still can't believe it."

Unknown to them, Nashie had taken them for a ride as he resurfaced on Monday with the release of a single – Handifi Zvekumhanya – announcing that he was alive. It then emerged that Nashie, who has two albums to his name and is not known to many, had faked his death so that he could be in the limelight.

The artiste took advantage of free Twitter connection offered by mobile operator Econet Wireless as he released the song on that platform.

But to his disappointment, Twelebs did not take the gimmick lightly as they immediately responded to his tweet expressing their displeasure.

"How can you fake your own death in four hours, then release a song inonzi 'Atife zvekumhanya?' . . . childish," tweeted DearAngelbert.

TVYangu tweeted: "Byo artist Nashie fakes death so he can drop a track. That has to be the dumbest stunt we've ever heard #ZERO."

Explaining himself, Nashie said he had pulled the stunt to get people to follow him.

"It was just a marketing gimmick to make people aware that I'm releasing an 18-track album 'MA-Recovery' on February 14.

"I hope my fans aren't angry, I just wanted to get people talking about me," said Nashie.

"The car that was posted as my car crash was actually that of my friends that crashed two weeks ago. No one was hurt. I decided to use it to fake my death."

The artiste said he was not troubled by the negative feedback he was receiving from people as he feels he accomplished his mission.

"I don't listen to what people say. They might think I'm being desperate or seeking attention, it doesn't matter. It's my life and I can do whatever I want."

He has since scheduled a Valentine's Day show in Botswana.

Source - chronicle
More on: #Dancehall, #Death