Chronicle Editor
Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
Following the death of rapper Cal Vin, Germany-based rapper, Awa Khiwe has committed to continue pushing Ndebele rap although she feels incapacitated due to the failure by locals to support their own musicians.
This comes after the realisation that most people failed to support Cal Vin through, for example, buying his music and attending his shows while he was still alive. It is only now after his death that all of the country’s radio stations are continuously playing his music with more and more people now appreciating his talent.
Awa Khiwe who had close relations with Cal Vin with the two at one point sharing the stage in Germany, said she was shattered by Cal Vin’s death as he was unable to finish his work of promoting artistes from his native land.
She said it is now the task of all artistes from Bulawayo to make sure they take over from where Cal Vin left and continue promoting the city’s diverse talent.
“Cal Vin played his part and it’s now up to us to pick up where he left off and continue pushing. What hurts is that he always cried for support and opened up about his struggles, but nothing changed. Knowing that uBaba uMajaivana and Cal Vin did everything in their power, but still failed to get support makes me wonder if my efforts are ever going to be fruitful,” said Awa Khiwe with a faint-broken tone.
However, she said she would not give up before trying. As such, she said she would fight to ensure that Ndebele rap continues to make an impact, not only in Zimbabwe, but even outside the country’s borders.
She reflected on how she and Cal Vin were the first locals to promote Ndebele rap outside the country.
“Our journey to Europe (with Cal Vin) in 2016 was a wakeup call for us because we were the first rappers to take Ndebele rap from the ghetto to Europe. We always had big dreams and realised that it’s possible to conquer the world with Ndebele rap.
“We were planning to do a tour this year where we wanted to promote the genre in the UK, but Covid-19 disturbed our plans. It’s sad that he left this earth before he achieved everything we’d planned,” said a disheartened Awa.
That Nkayi Girl, as Awa is now known, said she will forever cherish sharing the stage with That Luveve Boy as Cal Vin was known, saying he was a torchbearer in the music circles.
The artiste who recently attracted attention with her Ndebele rap on social media said she is adamant she has played her part in popularising the genre considering that she has taken the music to more than 50 festivals in Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Netherlands, UK and Australia. However, there is one problem, lack of support from home.
She said compared to the reception she gets abroad, back home, artistes are not appreciated much, something which is depressing.
“I’ve done interviews on BBC and many other international platforms. BBC Radio plays my music. I’ve tried my best to raise the Zimbabwean flag and put Matabeleland on the map. I recently posted a video that went viral and I stated that I am from Nkayi because I wanted the world to know about Nkayi.
“I want to make my people proud. It’s up to the people now because I can’t popularise Ndebele rap by myself.”
Added Awa: “It’s painful because everywhere I go, people love the music and they celebrate the beauty of our language and culture, but at home, we’re not celebrated. We need to build our own industry. There’s no reason why we should wait for South Africa to accept artistes before we celebrate them.”
“We shouldn’t be fighting to succeed via South Africa because they have their own artistes there. We need to build our own music industry especially in Matabeleland because it’s sad that many years later, we’re still crying about the same things UBaba uMajaivana was crying about,” said Awa Khiwe.
In celebrating Cal Vin who has been touted as the King of Hip Hop, she said she will be releasing a single titled Bayethe which features the late hip hop muso. The track will be included on her debut album African Women Arise.
“We’d planned to do some major promotion for the tracks on the album and that’s why we’d planned on touring together. It’ll be very hard to do this without him because we’d so many plans, but I’ll try my best.
“The money I’ll make will go to his mother and kid,” she said. — @mthabisi_mthire.
Online Reporter