Savannah Afros ready for Maputo test

into a week-long camp in preparation for the inter-regional competition to be held in Mozambique.
The regional finals will be held between February 8 and 14.
Joshua Kuchekana-Chirau, the director and vocalist of the group, revealed that preparations for the regional competition set for Maputo are at an advanced stage.
“This week will be going for a week-long camp. We are geared on perfecting the acts we did during the national finals.
“New performances will be added to our acts and Zimbabweans should have high hopes and victory is almost certain,” said Kuchekana-Chirau.
The group, which consists of Tapiwanashe Munyavi, Nqobile Chiwaze, Rutendo Machiricha, Ernest Nyamuteya, Arthur Timbe and Kuchekana-Chirau, had the crowd in delirium as they performed their Afro-fusion act including the enthralling “Nyarara Kuchema” during the national finals
Kachekana-Chirau joined Savannah Afros last year, after he met up with some of the band members at the College of Music where he was doing a diploma in music.
They came up with their own unique style of music called Zimbo-groove, which is a mixture of traditional instruments and modern ones.
“I met Rutendo and Tapiwanashe (Munyayi) at the College of Music, who then persuaded me to join Savannah Afros.
“Together we came up with Zimbo-groove, a music style that fuses traditional Zimbabwean music with Western music,” he said.
The 22-year-old says their music “manipulates” Western instruments to play African tunes, which has been popularised by local performers such as Mafriq.