adminBongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
ZIMBABWE shares its borders with South Africa, the Mecca of Southern African entertainment, and it comes as no surprise that the music produced there resonates with Zimbabweans. In the past, there have been collaborations between South African and Zimbabwean artistes which have not only made it big in the two countries, but in the region. The greatest example of these was a collaboration of Ringo Madlingozi and Oliver Mtukudzi on the track Into yami. The track became an instant hit and is still being enjoyed by many music lovers.
Last year, a little known DJ Stavo from the mining town of Kwekwe followed Tuku’s footsteps and has not looked back ever since. He first partnered kwaito legend Mandoza on the track Mnandi. The track was well received and is still enjoying airplay both in South Africa and Zimbabwe.
The self-proclaimed Kwekwe hustler, in true hustler mentality, did not stop there as he went further and sought the services of Shota of the Seng’khathele fame to produce another hit Ingoma. The track was released towards Christmas and was popular at many parties.
This year, he has roped in Fiesta Black (FB) real name Thandi Nakampe Mokgoankgoa of the Xigubu fame to produce a video for the track Teka Famba. The track, which is now available on social media sites is a party song, a fusion of house music with some traces of urban grooves beats and a dash of samba. Teka Famba which was released on Wednesday has already garnered a lot of hits on video sharing site YouTube.
DJ Stavo said he started working on Teka Famba in February at his studio in Kwekwe.
“I went into studio late February to work on the beat for Teka Famba. I then looked for someone who could sing the song and the person who came to mind was Fiesta Black.
“We did the vocals in South Africa and the rest of the stuff was done in Zimbabwe at the Kwekwe Hustler Studios,” said Stavo.
When collaborating with South African artistes, Stavo makes a beat for a particular artiste and upon agreement with the chosen artiste, he travels to South Africa to work on the vocals. Thereafter, he travels back to Zimbabwe to master the track.
The two artistes went on to record a music video for the song in South Africa.
“The video was released on Wednesday and it is doing well on local charts and video sharing site YouTube. I am looking forward to doing even bigger things by working with more artistes from around Africa so as to put Zimbabwe on the map”, said Stavo.
What makes Stavo different from other artistes is that he has noticed that to make it big internationally, one has to focus more on producing music videos instead of audios as videos tend to reach a wider audience. The DJ has therefore produced music videos for Ingoma and Mnandi which are enjoying a fair share of airplay from one of Africa’s leading music television stations.
DJ Stavo, born Steven Wayne Sanders, in Kwekwe on March 17, 1979, is married to Kudzai Alifa and has two children. The artiste started deejaying in 1998 and instantly fell in love with the response he got from the crowd.
In 2012 he decided to go professional and concentrate more on music production. He released his first track entitled Take Me There in June that year. In September, he released his first music video titled Sweet Love which featured Roki and Exqwizit.
Online Reporter