Alexio’s ‘Kuchina’ a hit with the ladies

The Zimbabwe German Society has its own version of “kuchina” in which music rather than prayer is the centrepiece and afro-soul musician Alexio Kawara is the star attraction.

“Kuchina” is by all intents and pur­poses a ladies’ function, so it’s not surprising Alexio’s weekly show is proving to be a hit with the fairer sex, thanks to its love theme.
Last Thursday, the ladies turned in their numbers to celebrate woman­hood with the “Shaina” hitmaker, who was bring­ing the cur­tain down on his 2012 calendar in the ZGS gazebo.

Although the show started off on a rather slow note with Alexio sampling some of his new songs, it gradually picked up momentum as he took revellers down memory lane with yesteryear hits such as “Ndadzoka Kwamuri”, whose theme is love and devotion.

This was followed by a catalogue of hits that made him a household name like “Kure Kure”, “Mira Titaure”, “Nyaya Yerudo”, “Hatizive”, “Umu” and “Amai Vevana” which endeared him to the ladies in the crowd as they immediately poured onto the dance floor in their mini-skirts, figure-hugging frocks and denim jeans that accentuated their anatomy.

Kawara further won the hearts of the women rev­ellers, with “Amai” in which he pays tribute not only to his own mother, but to every woman who is a mother or aspires to be one some day.
He also serenaded the crowd with the track “Famba” dedicated to all those women who earn a living from the cat­walk, in much the same way as ‘Shaina”, which became synony­mous with the then Miss Tourism Zim­babwe beauty pageant in years gone by.

In the song he heaps praise on his lover and compares her beauty and the way she walks to a model on the ramp and makes ref­erence to top for­mer ramp queen Brita Musalethulini, who went on to win the pres­tigious Miss Malaika pageant at the turn of the mil­lennium.
From then on every song was a hit with the crowd as they sang and danced along to familiar hits from Kawara and his Shades of Black who showed their own mettle when play­ing Nigerian superstar Dbanj’s hit “Oliver Twist” among others.

He got nearly all the ladies onto the dance­floor with the plug track “Save”, the opening track on the album “Tose” in which the 34-year-old Kawara appeals to Yawe (God) to see him through the year and life’s ups and downs.

Chart-topping hits like “Karwiyo Aka”,  “Nyaya Yerudo”, “Tinodanana” put the revellers in fes­tive mood as the show reached a cli­max.
For three hours Alexio showed just how much he has matured since making his first musical strides with his debut album, “Usazondisiya” that carried hit songs like “Kumba Kwenyu” and the epic “Ndi­nomhanya”.

To put the icing on the cake Alexio gave the ladies a dose of yesteryear love ditties with cover versions of the Bhundu Boys’ “Handichanana Na-Chipo”, Harare Mambos’ “Wakandinyepera” and Patrick Mukwamba’s ‘’Ramba Murume (Timwe Hwahwa)”.
It was just what the doctor ordered.