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Arts Reporter
UNITED Kingdom-based diva, Caroline Nyaka-Chana, says the spirit of Mbuya Stella Chiweshe led her when she recently delivered a vintage performance at Jamaica’s Independence Day celebrations at Victoria Square, Birmingham, in the United Kingdom.
Jamaica attained its independence on August 6, 1962 from Britain and a series of events to celebrate its freedom have become a common phenomenon every year.
This year, the Jamaica community in the UK invited Nyaka-Chana as one of the performers and she nailed it before thousands of fans.
Nyaka-Chana, who was backed by an Afro-fusion band, was inspired by the late Mbira queen when she appeared on stage.
She made her job easier as she played renditions of some local greats, including her role model Mbuya Chiweshe’s discography.
“I was petrified going onto the stage because I thought these are not my people per se, although historically they were moved from Africa to the Caribbean,” she said.
“As l prepared, the thought of how people would respond crossed my mind but I think the spirit of Mbuya Stella Chiweshe took over and guided me to a fine performance.
“I just told myself that Mbuya Chiweshe performed in front of foreigners in different parts of the world where people did not understand Shona but she got them dancing, and this calmed my nerves,” said Nyaka-Chana.
The Zimbabwe-born artist made history as the only African to perform at the three-day event.
Sixty musicians performed at the festival and 59 were Jamaicans.
Nyaka-Chana described performing in front of the Jamaicans as a reciprocal feature of the 1980 Zimbabwe Independence, in which the iconic musician Bob Marley performed at the country’s first independence celebrations.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter