Chronicle Editor
This week, Ashleigh Love’s track Rudo Mwenje featuring Black Orient is topping the charts. Below is her profile.
Question: Tell us about yourself
Answer: I’m Ashleigh Manyakaidze my stage name is Ashleigh Love. I am a vocalist, songwriter and performing artiste. Over the course of my life, I’ve lived in different parts of Zimbabwe and this is what has added to my versatility and just appreciating everyone as they are.
Q: How did you venture into music?
A: People would always say I have a good voice but I barely took them seriously. Throughout my school days I would find myself in the choir and all that so when I finished high school a friend suggested I take it more seriously and I did, though I started as a backing vocalist. Being more serious about music got me to sing in front of so many different crowds at so many different events. I then became a recording artist and things have just been moving forward from there.
Q: The song Rudo Mwenje, what inspired it and who did you work with?
A: The song Rudo Mwenje was inspired by love. My producer Black Orient decided it was time for me to step away from the heartbreak songs for a bit and he gave me the vision for Rudo Mwenje and I just rolled with it and we created the song. We then decided to create visuals and we worked with Visuals by Corey. We had dancers from Marcel Studio that brought the story to life and we shot it at Ten on Brooke. It was a collaborative effort really just to bring it all to life.
Q: Do you think promoters play a good role in developing local music or artistes?
A: Yes, I think to a greater extent, some promoters play a good role in developing local artistes, especially those artistes with a sound that is synonymous with what the promoters are looking for. It drives artistes to work harder in order for them to continuously up their game so that they can have access to various stages to showcase themselves.
Q: What do you think artistes from the city should do to be recognised?
A: I think the biggest thing that we as artistes can do is try and learn from those that we look up to in terms of their brand visibility and understand what kind of recognition we want for ourselves then try and work towards something that works best for us and put ourselves out there.
Q: They say Bulawayo doesn’t have its own sound. What’s your take on that, do you think we need our own sound or we need lyrical content that people from the city can relate to?
A: Bulawayo is such a diverse place in terms of cultural and ethnic groups and by virtue of that, there will be so many different sounds it cannot be boxed into just one sound.
I definitely believe that as far as art is concerned, there’s something for everyone here
Q: How long have you been in the music industry?
A: I have been in the music industry professionally since 2014 as a backing vocalist, I then went solo in 2017
Q: Which artistes have you worked with?
A: I have worked with different artistes and groups. I have been in Vocal Ex where I got the opportunity to back artistes from Joyous Celebration, I have worked in Worship Addicts backing Takesure Zamar. I have backed Jeys Marabini. I have worked in the in-house bands for awards and worked with artistes like Bekezela, Edith WeUtonga, Madlela, Nkwali. I have shared stages with phenomenal queens like Thandi Dhlana and Sandra Ndebele and my talented brothers Ex Mile and MJ Sings
I have worked on stuff with Victor Stot. I have worked in productions with Iyasa, oh my list is so long and endless. I’ve also been in a few bands I am currently a lead vocalist in Image Music as well as a session musician.
Q: How many albums/EPs/singles do you have? List notable songs
A: I have one EP titled The Birth Of Love. As for songs, I have quite a few of them. I love Zvinoyera which is off my EP and This World which features Thandy Dhlana and I also love Raining which I worked on with Black Orient
Q: Who inspires you?
A: I’m inspired by so many different artistes. Chiwoniso was the greatest of them all. There’s Lira as well. My list definitely has to include Beyoncé, Adele and Celine Dion. I need to add Oliver Mtukudzi in that because his music was basically the soundtrack to my childhood it played everywhere
Q: Which music genre do you specialise in?
A: I specialise in Afro-fusion so it’s just a mix of genres but never forgetting to include that African stamp.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter