adminBongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
THE Godfather of Zimdancehall, Templeman (real name Simbarashe Maphosa) has lauded Bulawayo artistes saying their music is of national quality and just needs to be promoted.
Templeman, who has assisted many up-and-coming Zimdancehall artistes, said all that was needed was for Bulawayo artistes to push for airplay on the country’s airwaves.
“There’s a lot of talent in terms of Zimdancehall from Bulawayo artistes. They’ve good lyrical ingenuity and can compete with those in Harare. I was impressed with what I saw when I hosted my show there,” he said.
The DJ, who hosts the Dancehall Remedy show on Star FM on Thursdays, said he would assist Bulawayo artistes to receive airplay, adding that they also needed to persevere.
“There’s no reason for people to travel all the way to Harare to submit their music to radio stations there. All they need to do is look for a person they trust, give him/her bus fare, load their music on a flash and send that person to bring the music here. That person should look for me when they get here,” Templeman said.
“This will be cheaper and effective for them.”
Templeman urged artistes to consider rhyming in Ndebele, something which he said Zimdancehall was yearning for.
“There’s a gap that youths aren’t seeing. Everyone is singing Zimdancehall in Shona. When I came to Bulawayo I thought I’d find many chanters who could sing in Ndebele, but only saw Skinny P who did that during a mash up. Zimdancehall is looking for something new and fresh,” he said.
Templeman also urged artistes to produce more music in other vernacular languages in order to be more appealing to a wider audience.
He said dancehall artistes needed to appreciate that they were social commentators who should have lyrics that reflect that.
“What they say on the mic should be a reflection of what’s happening in society. As artistes, we’re social commentators. What we sing about is supposed to educate the masses that listen to our music,” Templeman said. Some of the up-and-coming dancehall artistes from Bulawayo include Centre Party, Vic Vado, Real Kid and Amigo Mero.
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter