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Vincent Gono
MANY established musicians who witnessed the entry of Jah Prayzah, real name Mukudzei Mukombe into the music industry thought he was a one hit maker like so many other young artistes they had seen before him. They thought his verve was going to fizzle out in haste like paraffin fire on a rock and that he was quickly going to go under.
They did not take him seriously or as serious competition. Yet all he needed was a few years to settle down and posit himself on the apex of the country’s music industry that many have described as a dog eat dog industry where only the fittest can survive. And if that is true, he has proven that he is fit, much to the chagrin of veteran artistes who later realised they were wrong.
Yes, they were very wrong to sit back and watch the young lad hoping his star would fade into oblivion. It did not. In fact it grew shiner, bigger and bolder. The young, lanky, unassuming but creative artiste had brilliant ideas. He had set his sights far and very wide and now his biggest challenge is lack of challenge, lack of competition.
Ammara Brown who he collaborated with on the track Kure Kure off the album Kumbumura Mhute said of Jah Prayzah that he was not just the man of the moment but the pop king of “our generation.”
She added that she enjoyed working with him and hoped to continue doing so in many other projects to follow.
“Jah Prayzah isn’t just the man of the moment. He is the pop king of our generation. He is very professional and very passionate, so it is a fluid working environment for me. He is a strong performer so he will enjoy longevity in this industry. I believe he will be dubbed an icon when we look back 40 years from now.
“I recently co-directed his latest music video Jerusarema. It’s a very natural chemistry that we have and it seems to be consistently rewarded by our fan. It is safely the second successful collaboration of many to come,” said Ammara.
In an industry whose defining word is creativity and where others quickly run out of ideas and either surrender or end up giving people rushed and unpolished acts, Jah Prayzah has proved that his creative reservoir is far from drying up.
His was a triumphal entry where despite little reception of his earlier work that was largely trial and error, his graph has been going up with every new album release scaling him up to cloud heights and that is no doubt a sign of growth.
Comparisons were made between him and Sulumani Chimbetu with people asking who the man of the moment was but that was then, when he was still growing up and now he is a man and Sulu is no longer competition to talk about if numbers at various shows are to be taken into consideration.
Maybe the only analogy is that both are young, artistic and of the same music generation as well as that both are stylish in their own ways but that is as far as the analogy can go and the biggest difference is that he, unlike Sulu, is not an heir apparent to any music legacy.
He inherited nothing musical. He is not even like Morgan and Tendai — the Dembo brothers (Leonard Dembo’s sons) who inherited a name and nothing else.
The long and short of it is that he is not an off-shoot of a musical background. He is his own man who has managed to curve his musical path and transformed it into a household brand that cuts across generations.
He has together with his Third Generation Band transformed their music into a brand that one can never be mistaken for any other. That Jah Prayzah is a complete artiste is nothing to argue about. He has the natural voice that does not need extra tuning; he is also an energetic dancer and plays his mbira mightily but with natural ease.
His creative genius does not start and end with composing songs that are relevant and exciting but manifests itself more in the way he does his videos. Although there are allegations of stealing video concepts from other regional counterparts that are always following him, the ones that are not stolen are masterpieces confirming his ability and artistic agility.
Online Reporter