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This is not the first time the two have lit up the stage. The two shared the stage in a critically acclaimed collaboration show which was one of the highlights at the October International Jazz & World Music Festival last year.
Earlier in the week, they put up another sizzling performance at the Lay’s Global Stage with their brand of music that blends the mbira-derived rhythms of Kunonga, and Khoza’s maskanda with its jazzy feel.
On Saturday, Bheki and Victor were on fire as they belted out some of their best songs from their rich discography in show that can be aptly described as a first-class music experience.
Although Khoza’s music is hardly known this side of the Limpopo, he won the hearts of those in the audience with his brilliant guitar strumming skills. Of course, when he sings in his native Zulu, one is reminded of one half of the legendary Juluka, Sipho Mchunu.
Kunonga sang the Shona equivalent of the Zulu lyrics on most of Bheki’s songs, while Bheki translated Kunonga’s lyrics into Zulu wherever possible. The biggest hits of the night included “Quailaqa” and “Siyahamba Pezulu” from Bheki Khoza’s 2006 album titled “Getting to Heaven Alive”.
Kunonga serenaded fans with perennial crowd favourites “Rudo”, “Zivanayi”. “Kumagumo”, “Kufa Kwemurume” (Kubuda Hura), “Uyo” and the farewell song “Hatineti” which had the fans singing and dancing along.
To demonstrate that their collaboration is deep-rooted, Kunonga led Khoza in singing the popular children’s rhyme, “Pahushamwari Hwedu” as well as the Shona proverb “Kandiro Kanoenda Kunobva Kamwe”.
A large crowd turned out for the “Double K” (Khoza-Kunonga) show, testimony to the two guitarists’ pulling power, bearing in mind that there were various counter attractions around town, especially with Hifa in full swing.
Khoza and Kunonga share a similar background which can be traced back to the dusty roads of Umlazi and Hwedza respectively.
They are both self-taught, only later seeking formal music training for a deeper understanding of their art, and are now award-winning performers and recording artistes, reaching people widely in the region and abroad, each with his unique musical expression, rooted in their local traditions.
While Khoza is an established master jazz and maskanda guitarist, Kunonga is a fast rising star with an amazing guitar sound anchored on the mbira.
His music has been variously described as “characteristically Zimbabwean afrobeat” with strains of Tuku and Thomas Mapfumo, Devera Ngwena, Bhundu Boys, Four Brothers, Jonah Sithole and The Deep Horizon, according to one music critic.
In his long and illustrious career Bheki has worked with such diverse artistes as Kenny Barron, Hilton Ruiz, Jackie and Rene McLean, Winston Mankunku Ngozi, Sibongile Khumalo and the African Jazz Pioneers.
With such a rich history between them, it is not perhaps surprising that when Kunonga announced it was time to go home as the clock struck 1.00am, the crowd roared their disapproval. “No! No! No!” they chanted while others pre-empted him by singing the chorus to one of his popular hits “Kuenda Mbire”.
Online Reporter