Jah Prayzah rocks Book Cafe

The show was just the icing on the cake of a memorable week that saw him launch his fourth album “Tsviriyo” at a colourful ceremony at Jazz 105 on Wednesday. Magnate Philip Chiyangwa bid a whopping US$12 000 for the CD while businessman-cum-musician Energy Mutodi weighed in with a US$1 000 bid. So Jah Prayzah had every reason to feel pleased with himself.

Good Friday’s show was in many ways the first leg of a marketing drive for “Tsviriyo”.
Fans of the contemporary musician are used to seeing him in bright red, green, yellow and often white military attire. But on Friday night he opted for a grey outfit reminiscent of the air force, bedecked with a silver chain and befitting someone with the rank of Chief of Staff. The Third Generation Band wore their customary green and with their white gloves, they looked every inch an offshoot of the Army Signals Band.

The Book Café burst into life when Jah Prayzah strode onto the stage at around 11pm drawing a rapturous round of applause from the expectant crowd. Although Chikwata.263 had done a good job of entertaining the revellers with their unique mbira punk, a fusion of 1970s heavy metal and mbira, it was obvious Jah Prayzah was the man they had come to see.

He certainly did not disappoint his legion of fans as he immediately broke into plug tracks from his latest album, such as “Machembere”, “Mwanasikana”, “Rufaro”, “Sisiria” and the title track “Tsviriyo”, which had everyone hopping up and down as they sang along.

“Tsviriyo” is essentially a happy-go-lucky type of song in which Jah Prayzah urges fans to look at music as a unifying rather than divisive force. In other words, fans should be free to enjoy any musician of their choice, be it Tuku, Alick Macheso, Suluman Chimbetu, Tongai Moyo, Kapfupi or Pastor Charamba.
“Hatidi hondo (No fighting, please”),” Jah Prayzah urged the crowd.

And, as has become the norm, mention of Macheso’s name is now synonymous with the “Zora Butter” dance.
The lanky musician certainly knows how to wow the crowd. When he performed “Ngwarira Kuparara”, he launched into a toyi-toyi dance.

Of course, the show would not be complete without the compulsory marching drills, and the crowd simply loved it when Jah Prayzah commanded his troops to do the “left turn”, “right turn” and “about turn”, which they executed faultlessly.

Jah Prayzah has a way of connecting with the fans and continuously interacted with them throughout the performance. “Muri kufara here? (Are you happy?)”, “Togocha here?” (in reference to his party sing-along “Gochi-Gochi”).

When he belted “Maria” he also introduced a new dance — the generator dance — in which the dancing team simulates the starting and shutdown of a generator. Throughout the three-hour show, the energetic Jah Prayzah, would get into a variety of dance sequences, much to the delight of the fans who responded with whistles and ululations.

And as a bonus to his adoring fans, Jah Prayzah treated them to his blockbuster collaboration, “Sean Timba”, with Sulu. Pity, Sulu was not available for the duet, but there was no hint his presence was missed as revellers simply added their own voices to the chorus “Batai Munhu”.

As the show wound up to a climax, he performed another crowd favourite “Sori Mama”, leading to some serious dancing on the packed dance floor.
Jah Prayzah might have missed out on a 2012 National Arts Merit Award, but in the wake of his album launch and Good Friday’s show, he’s destined for greater heights.