adminRumbidzai Mbewe Sunday Leisure Correspondent
IT is yet again that time of the year when everybody is in good spirits and artistes are working extra hard in the studios to produce Christmas hits.
Sunday Leisure took time to speak to a few artistes about what they are doing in the festive season and what their fans should expect from them. The popular Kwabatsha Dance Company which kept everybody on the dance floor with their hit song Bhatshi has promised their fans a Christmas to remember.
In an interview, Trust Gumbo, the group’s director and co-founder said they had a number of events lined up for the festive season. He said they were already in the Christmas spirit and they had started performing in and outside Zimbabwe.
“Christmas has already begun for some of us. We are travelling to South Africa to perform in Midrand this weekend and after that we will be at the Miss Lupane State University the coming Friday,” he said.
Besides these events, Gumbo said they would be gracing the annual event that many people in Bulawayo look forward to every end of the year. The Dance Company will join other artistes in counting down to year end at the Kalawa home coming show in December.
“We are preparing a great Christmas package for our fans and for now we are keeping it a surprise. We hope our fans will like what we have in store for them,” he said.
In a separate interview, POZee said his fans should expect a lot from him. He said he was working on the Bigger than Hip-Hop project which he expects to be mind blowing.
“Bigger than Hip-Hop will be a hit and people should look forward to great productions,” he said.
Bulawayo kwaito king, Khuxxman said he would be shooting different videos for a project that he was working on during the year. He said the project took longer than expected but he was optimistic that everything would work out well.
“The project took longer than we anticipated but now we will be focusing on shooting videos which we anticipate to be a hit. We want everyone to be dancing to them during Christmas period,” he said.
He said 2014 was not a good year for him because he faced a lot of challenges recording his project. However, not everything flopped as he managed to scoop the Best House Album award at the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima).
“I cannot really say that my year was good because things did not work out according to my plans. I faced quite a number of challenges but I can say I will sail through. What makes the year a little better for me is my getting recognition at the Zima,” he said.
Drummer and member of iTribe group said Born to Life Arts media would be taking part in the much anticipated youth games that start today. He said they would also be part of the Ibumba festival which will be held this month.
“We have done most of the things in our programme for this year and we are left with a few events like the Youth Games and the Ibumba Festival. We will be supporting all the activities done at the Youth Games,” he said.
The artistes said 2014 had been a good year despite a few hurdles that they came across. They said they gained a lot of experience through some of the arts festivals that were held in the city.
The festive gigs preparations are not a preserve of Bulawayo artistes as in Harare artistes are also doing the same. Three times Zimbabwe Music Awards winner, Cynthia Mare and all boys band Soul Afrika are set to release a new single before Christmas.
“Cynthia and Soul Afrika will be collaborating with Tererai Mugwadi and will be releasing a single entitled Pauri. Fans should look forward to this single because it’s going to be a hit,” said their manager Njabulo Nkomo known in the music circles as Tytan.
Bongani Ndlovu