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Liberty Dube
Entertainment Correspondent
LOCAL mbira group, Deze RaWasu, believes they have what it takes to be crowned champions at the Chibuku Road to Fame national finals scheduled for Harare tomorrow (Saturday).
It will not be a stroll in the park for the eight-member traditional music ensemble as they will battle it out with nine other provincial winners in a fierce contest that is usually associated with anxiety, intrigue and surprises.
The event, arguably the country’s biggest grassroots talent identification programme, will be held at Takashinga Cricket Club in Highfield under the theme ‘Imbatinzwe, Culasizwe’.
A star-studied line-up of artistes is also expected to light up the potentially-intriguing event which starts at 10am.
Among the top artistes billed to perform are sungura ace, Alick Macheso, songstress, Feli Nandi, Tocky Vibes, Chillspot Family, Jah Master, NdungeYut, Pumacol, Bazooker and Grade 2D Band, among others.
Deze RaWasu said they were rehearsing hard to fine-tune their presentation as they know that they need to be at their very best.
One of the group’s founding members, Kelvin Dozwa, fondly known as Kever Six, said they are raring to go.
“We have been working tirelessly during our rehearsals as we aim to be among the best. We know it will not be easy, but we have been working on various aspects that we feel need to be fine-tuned.
“This is an achievable task. We just need to be at our best, flawless and confident on the stage as everything will be completely different from the provincial finals. We have researched intensively on how previous winners fared and we are confident that we will pull a surprise,” said Dozwa.
Deze RaWasu was formed in 2018 and went on a sabbatical in 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the group participated in the first season of the Celebrate Africa music competition and qualified for the top seven finals.
Early this year, the band was selected among 625 artworks chosen around the world for the Intercontinental Biennial exhibition in South America.
Deze RaWasu bridges the gap between the old and new generations by performing both folk and original songs using traditional rhythms like mhande, mbende, mbakumba and dinhe.
The group has performed on national events and social gatherings.
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