Bulawayo artistes, the ‘realest’ in the game

Melissa Mpofu recently in Harare 

LAST weekend, I had the rare opportunity of travelling with Bulawayo’s top artistes to Harare for the much-anticipated Zimbabwe Music Awards.

Among those I travelled with were rappers Asaph, Msiz’kay and Cal Vin, Tshibilika musicians Madlela Skhobokhobo and Clement Magwaza, jazz artiste Vuyo Brown, Ngoma Ingoma’s Prince Joel Nyoni, Sotja Moyo and Indosakusa’s Oscar Siziba Thobela. They were all nominated for the awards and hopeful to return back home victorious.

The one thing I loved the most about this crew was the oneness and humility. None of them behaved like superstars or as if they were richer or better than the other, as is the case with some artistes. Everyone got along so well despite the different personalities. Even Cal Vin and Asaph who are said to be frenemies were the best of friends, sharing drinks and foodstuffs along the way. 

So off to Harare we went in a not so fancy Sprinter. To make matters worse, in typical Sprinter style, the driver decided to blaze rhumba music which even the rhumba musicians present were not too keen to listen to as it was rather too loud for an early morning drive. Most then nicely requested the driver to lower his volume, of which he did, only to raise it moments later. But we could not be bothered. 

As expected, the back seats which were occupied by the younger artistes were the most interesting ones as that is where all the socialising was. Cal Vin, Skyz Metro FM’s ‘favourite’ artiste, was the main topic as we all quizzed him about the behind the scenes story of his beef with the city’s radio station. It was clear he had no beef with the station, but had taken the bold move to call out the station in order to fix things for the upcoming generation.

Ngoma Ingoma’s Prince who was the only representative from his group as the others were already in Harare rehearsing ahead of the big day, was the best passenger as he provided drinks and the much-needed comic relief, poking fun at those who seemed a bit tense. 

The axe-wielding Madlela was visibly missing his wife whom he married last month as he did not talk much. But he was not as bad as Clement Magwaza and Vuyo who had her headphones on the whole way, periodically chatting to Asaph whom she was sitting next to. 

No prizes for guessing, the chatter boxes on the way were Asaph, Cal Vin and Msiz’kay, typical of hip-hop artistes. They never slept and in fact, used the opportunity to reminisce about heydays. 

After a couple of recess stops, we arrived in Harare and went straight to the show’s venue for accreditation. There, we were met by Saimon Mambazo Phiri who was tasked with organising the awards ceremony. Moments later, the Zima chairman Joseph Nyadzayo and Zima CEO Reason “Rizzla” Sibanda came through and welcomed the Bulawayo contingent before taking us to our accommodation in the posh Mt Pleasant and Westgate suburbs where people were to spend the night.

The accommodation, which was in the form of homes, is where people bonded well again as we were now in a home environment. With a speedy Internet connection coupled with Netflix, it was hard getting people to bath in preparation for the show as they were enjoying the entertainment. 

However, they eventually got ready for the show and in no time, were all dressed up to the nines. At this point, it was easy to tell that reality had now hit most as they were no longer chatty as they were likely wondering who among them would get the awards. 

Sadly, this was worsened by the red-carpet presenters Rumbidzai “Newsbae” Takawira and Goodchild who were kind of hostile to the Bulawayo team as they ignored them on the red carpet at the venue. But, the presenters couldn’t be blamed wholly as they likely did not know most of the artistes, save for Cal Vin whom they made noise about upon seeing him. This hostility however, broke my heart as for years, artistes from Bulawayo have always felt marginalised and this is one of the reasons why. I then decided to intervene and called both presenters to the side and asked them to interview the artistes. They agreed and apologised saying they did not know them. But sadly, some had already lost hope and headed straight to the venue.

 Walking into the venue, one was reminded of the Bulawayo Arts Awards as there was a similar setup. This made the Bulawayo crew feel at home as it was a setup they were accustomed to. 

Within the first hour of the show, most of the artistes had already learnt of their fate as the categories – Best Tshibilika group and Best traditional (Ezomdabu/Imbube) group in which they were nominated where the first ones to be presented. The likes of Clement Magwaza and Indosakusa’s Thobela were already all smiles. Sadly, the rest who were nominated in the Best jazz artiste and Best hip hop artiste categories lost out. 

But despite having lost, the morale did not die down as those who lost out were happy for those who had won because at the end of the day, they were all team Bulawayo. 

To show how much of a united front the crew was, when we travelled back to Bulawayo on Sunday, as people gathered around for lunch in Gweru, it was agreed that the unity experienced during this trip be spread to the rest of the city. So, it was agreed that a Bulawayo Zima winners and nominees party be staged in the city to celebrate as part of efforts to get the Bulawayo populace to rally behind the artistes. 

All in all, it was great travelling with the artistes as I had the rare opportunity of getting to know them off stage and on a personal level, something I will always cherish. Up to now, I miss Madlela, Prince, Cal Vin and Asaph, my travel besties. 

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