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Bongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
FOR years, Bulawayo artistes have been sidelined, getting little recognition from local radio stations. This seems to be changing as ZiFM has of late been focusing on Bulawayo talent.
In a move meant to promote content from Bulawayo, the radio station will this month introduce the Bulawayo Song of the Month chart show which will be drawn from the weekly top 10 chart show.
At the end of the year, the station will host a ZiFM Bulawayo Song of the Year chart show which will see artistes battling it out for the top spot on December 27.
The Song of The Year will be drawn from the Song of the Month chart.
The public will vote for the song of the month through social networks WhatsApp, Facebook and the SMS voting system.
In an interview, the pioneer of the Bulawayo chart shows on ZiFM, DJ Gibson Ncube, who also hosts the “Zi Saturday Zone, Yo link to the City of Kings and Queens” show, said they decided to launch the Bulawayo Song of the month chart show to promote Bulawayo artistes.
“The idea behind Bulawayo’s Song of The Month is to recognise and credit the artistes that will have accumulated the most votes throughout the month.
“Our artistes need to be appreciated and given exposure for their work. It would be great to see a Bulawayo musician being nationally recognised, accepted and credited for their talent,” said Ncube.
He said Bulawayo music was getting good reviews from radio listeners as evidenced by some musicians such as PoZee and Maruis Keng who have been dominating the charts.
“The fast-growing chart has been dominated by young and urban artistes whose music seems to have a greater appeal to ZiFM’s listenership.
“Artistes like Tkp, PoZee and Stach have taken the number one spot for a week each while Marius Keng featuring Mns with their track ‘Falling in Luv’ have become the first artistes to hold on to the number one spot for three weeks in a row,” said Ncube.
He added that he was impressed with the support the artistes were getting from the nation.
“When I launched the Bulawayo top 40 charts show on ZiFM, I thought it was going take a long time to garner votes from other people around the country, but to my surprise, they are getting involved.
“As much as we are still building the chart show, we are growing and as the saying goes, Rome was not built in a day, I believe that we are rising,” said Ncube.
Some of the artistes who are already being featured on the chart show are Mbo Mahocs, Somazaza and DJ Prince.
Online Reporter