Online Reporter
MANJE SO with Mai Juju
AH, manje so, where do we even start with our beloved Baba Harare?
The man who gave us hits, the man who gave us moves and the man who gave us the most spectacular spiritual U-turn since Saul decided to take a walk to Damascus and became Paul.
It is a glorious day for jiti music, what with Baba Harare dropping his 12th studio album, “Pedzai Navo”, yesterday.
Interestingly, it also features the very people he probably scoffed at when he took a detour into gospel music and christened himself “King David”.
He is now collaborating with Sekuru Gudo of the “Weru” fame and Nutty O. Talk about coming full circle.
This dude abandoned the genre and called it “nonsense”, and now he is sharing a tracklist with the very pretenders who rushed to fill the vacuum he left.
Folks, do you still remember when Baba Harare had his “moment of epiphany” in Australia?
The Lord spoke to him, supposedly because his wife — whom he claims he did not marry recently but definitely made him cut his dreadlocks — had convinced him that gyrating on stage was not befitting of a married man.
He quit the gym, he quit the gyrations and he quit jiti.
He changed his name to King David because apparently “Baba Harare” was not biblical enough.
We were told we were witnessing a miracle.
We were told to embrace the new, wholesome version of our jiti king.
We tried to imagine him singing about hallelujah instead of the usual “nzimbe”. But deep down, Mai Juju knew the man was suffering.
And suffer he did.
For a year, King David was subjected to the cruelest punishment known to man: poverty.
He realised that while churches love a good choir, they love paying for it even less.
He came out crying foul, telling the world that gospel promoters treat artistes like beggars.
Apparently, he now seems to have realised that the sweet sound of secular music is the only sound that pays the bills. Ge ge ge ge!
So, here we are.
The king of jiti is back again with the full package — a six-pack tummy, bulging muscles and the on-stage gyrations.
By the way, Mai Juju has to ask: What happened to the wife?
Argh, well, that might be a story for another day.
For now, let us just marvel at the speed of this recovery.
He has forgotten the “nonsense” and is ready to “assume his rightful throne”.
To his credit, the man tried, and he has realised the hard truth: You can be a practising Christian and still shake your hips to a jiti beat.
The two are not mutually exclusive.
He did not have to disappear for a year to prove he has the fear of God.
He just needed to realise that God helps those who help themselves . . . by making bangers.
So, we welcome you back, Baba Harare.
We are glad you have completed your Saul-to-Paul-back-to-Saul moment.
We forgive you for leaving us heartbroken, but please, no more dramatic exits. Ndikoko!
