Iyasa products, Asante Mo outdo selves

Angela Sibanda, Showbiz Reporter
AFRO-TECH dance trio, Asante Mo outdid themselves during their first public performance on Tuesday when they participated at the official provincial opening of the National Culture Week celebrations in Nkulumane.

The trio, a product of Iyasa was the closing act and right when many were thinking about heading back home, the stage rose to life as they gave an outstanding performance of what they called the “dancing drum”.

Their polished performance saw many youths engaging them after the show to try their luck in training.

The trio is made up of Aaron Chikondawanga aka DJ Beast, Bekithemba Phiri aka Beckx Marabha and Newman Trindad aka Daiman.

Asante Mo’s act is similar to those of Djembe Monks and Black Motion, but theirs is outstanding as deejaying and drumming goes simultaneously with the contemporary dances.

Kids that attended the event seemed excited as they could be seen trying to mimic the movements while the group was performing on stage.

A few clever ones got the chance to join in on the stage and learnt a few moves from the dancers.

In an interview with Chronicle Showbiz, Daiman said the group started their craft during the strict Covid-19 lockdown three years ago.

He said the response by the public has given them the courage to carry on.

“We started this during the first lockdown of Covid-19.

We’re trained artistes who started the journey under Iyasa.

Our work is called Afro-tech and what we just did on stage is called the dancing drum.

We’ve seen so many performances of DJs and drums, but they’ve no dance so we decided to introduce the dance aspect where we’ll be dancing while drumming,” Daiman said.

Already, the trio has performed at various events but they were all virtual, with Tuesday’s show being their first public show.

“We’ve performed at Harare’s Theatre in the park and Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo and we wish to expand and penetrate the industry.

Our craft is new and it’s not easy to penetrate the market because people are still trying to understand our art,” he said.

Daiman however, said, things are looking up for them with the culture month performance having exposed them to new audiences.

“After this performance, we’ve gained exposure as this was our first public performance.

The response from the audience was quite encouraging as we were a bit nervous on how the public would receive us.

But after the performance, a number of people have approached us wanting to know more about our craft and I must say, this makes us happy and boosts our confidence.”

He paid homage to Iyasa for giving them a great foundation.