adminIn an interview recently, the crew comprising Ezekiel “Easy aka Commando” Chikwenere and Rashion Tawanda Hackman, said they wanted to revive dancehall culture in the city because Bulawayo was the hub of entertainment.
“We want to bring back the culture of dancehall to Bulawayo as we know that entertainment and culture is centred and found in abundance in the City of Kings,” said Easy.
He said dancehall culture was about bringing peace and harmony as it offers edutainment.
“Dancehall is a peaceful culture and it promotes righteousness. The music can be educational and entertaining at the same time. It has a message for all people,” said Easy.
He said dancehall culture was a platform to nurture young talent that has not broken into the music mainstream.
“We have a talent nurturing programme where those up-and-coming dancehall artistes can come and ‘spit’ on the mic and showcase their talent. Such programmes have produced the likes of Booker T and Decibel to mention but a few. We want to see such artistes coming out of Bulawayo,” said Easy.
His colleague, Hackman, said plans were in place to revive provincial sound system championships.
He said from the provincial finalist there would be a national champion who would represent Zimbabwe in the Africa Cup of Sound Systems.
“The Africa Cup of Sound Systems Champion will represent the continent in the world championships held in America every year. Base Odyssey of USA are the current world champions and Black Supremacy of Kenya is the African Champions at the moment,” said Hackman.
He said during the week they hold sessions at a local nightclub to search for talent.
“In dancehall, DJs are the ones on the microphone like Buju Banton. It is called bubbling on the microphone. We will be looking for singing DJs and microphone chanters. Our shows have had great revelations such as Terror Shango, Ibredlin, Ancient Amos, Collin J, Advar Lion Paw, Kuchikul and Great Dyke. These Bulawayo dancehall artistes promise a lot and that is why we are into dancehall,” said Hackmen.
According to Wikipedia, dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a sparser version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.
In the mid-1980s, digital instrumentation became more prevalent, changing the sound considerably, with digital dancehall or ragga becoming increasingly characterised by faster rhythms.
In the mid-1990s with the rise of dancehall BoboShanti, artistes such as Sizzla and Capleton developed a very strong connection between dancehall and Rastafari.
Online Reporter