Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Reporter
The party was thumping, people were dancing and drinking themselves into merriment oblivious of the new normal that artistes are going through.
South Africa’s DBN Gogo was in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe’s cultural and party capital and performed at Umguza Yacht Club on Sunday night.
While she got on stage after 1AM, when normally the crowd would have been restless and getting tired, earlier on she faced problems of working as an artiste in the new normal.
DBN Gogo, real name Mandisa Radebe, had performed in Harare on Saturday evening and was supposed to be in Bulawayo by Sunday afternoon. However, DBN Gogo and her crew missed the flight to Bulawayo and they had to travel by road to the City of Kings and Queens.
The 438km journey saw them arrive a little after 8.30PM and they checked into their rooms, but there came another process they had to do, Covid-19 tests. For them to travel back to their country, South Africa, the crew had to do Covid-19 PCR tests. This was at the cost of the show promoter, Patrice Siyabonga of 93 Group.
This process took over three hours to do at a local laboratory and by the time that they were done, it was impossible for DBN Gogo to make it for her 11.30PM slot.
During that time, Umguza Yacht Club was teeming with people, for a show that was to raise awareness for vaccination and violence against women.
To get to Umguza Yacht Club there are two entrances, a boom gate, where people and cars have to dip into the water to prevent the spread of anthrax and foot-and-mouth disease. The second one is at the venue. It was at the boom gate, where there was a long queue of cars stretching for about a kilometre as tickets were being sold there to those who had made the 15km drive to the venue.
It would take one perhaps 20 to 30 minutes to pass through the first entrance before making another one-kilometre drive to the second gate.
At the venue, the general section was full, the VIP section and VVIP section were the same.
DJs on the decks such as South Africa-based Nizhe DeSoul kept the crowd vibing with Amapiano beats. Also on the decks was the partnership of Babongile Sikhonjwa and DJ Eugy who always set the tone for a memorable night.
As it has become the norm at such shows, DJ Nospa takes to the decks as he transitions the mood for the main act and this time, it was DBN Gogo as last time it was the Major League DJs.
When DBN Gogo and her entourage entered the VVIP section, chaos ensued as fans jostled to catch a glimpse of her and those in the area wanted to take pictures of her and with her.
Bouncers had a torrid time holding people back and the place went into a frenzy when she got on stage and did what she knows best, making people dance.
As the crowd in various areas at the venue danced, so did DBN Gogo. She seemed to feed off the energy exuded by the crowd that was chanting “Gogo we wanna party!”
This “We wanna Party” chant by the crowd started off when SA’s Vigro Deep (who on the previous night performed in Harare) performed at the same venue last month. It was repeated last month, but this time with the Major League DJz name being appended and now DBN Gogo.
The show ended just after 2AM and at that time, people had danced themselves rugged and made the long journey to their various homes.
Oddly, someone would periodically throw wads of $10 notes to the crowd and other members of the crowd, especially women, were put on the shoulders of their partners to get a better view of the action upfront.
DBN Gogo’s show was the beginning of marathon shows in Bulawayo as there will be acts from outside the country right through to the end of December. Acts to look out for include Boohle, Blaq Diamond, Kabza De Small, Madumane and Sha Sha.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter