Zimbabwea��s famous video girls

Bruce Ndlovu
AFTER the release of his video for the song Eriza, Jah Prayzaha��s hit track found a new lease of life as the visuals proved to be as captivating as the original song.

Despite the fact that the song had already won the hearts of Zimbabweans, it was the performance of 22-year-old ex-soldier Lyn Magodo that increased the popularity of the song and video.

Clad in a schoolgirl outfit Lady Storm, as Magodo is now popularly known in Zimbabwean entertainment circles, catapulted herself into superstardom as she gyrated herself into national notoriety. Men drooled at her sexually suggestive dance moves while women admired her loose waist that seemed to hold their male counterparts in a trance.

Although she has reinvented herself as Lady Storm, it could be hard for her to shake the Eriza tag as it is what catapulted her to national fame.

a�?I owe my success to Jah Prayzah who gave me an opportunity to feature on his video. Thata��s when things started shaping up for me. If it wasna��t for him, maybe I wouldna��t be this popular. Before the Eriza video, I had limited exposure,a�? she admitted in an interview.

It remains to be seen if she will shed the Eriza tag. One artiste who struggled in that regard is the late Elizabeth Katarina Taderera. During her heyday she was a national wonder as Katarina, a name she was given by another late great Zimbabwean entertainer, Safirio Mukadota Madzikatire.

While he was already a popular comedian and musician, Katarina became Madzikatirea��s trump card during shows.

Humorous jams, notably KwaHunyani, Ndichatenga Yangu and Usandisiye, mostly assumed light-hearted conversation between two personas, Madzikatire as Dickson and Taderera as Katarina.

Katarinaa��s face, permanently adorned with an ear wide smile and thick lipstick became an important aspect of Madzikatirea��s videos.

But that fame was not to last long however, as her popularity declined as the new millennium approached and she had to resort to waitressing in her later years.

One Zimbabwean video girl who has stood the test of time is the woman regularly touted as the countrya��s queen of dance, Sandra Ndebele. Sandy as she is popularly known is unique because not only were her dance moves the highlight of her video, she was also the star of the whole show.A� While the other ladies were the supporting cast to a bigger male star, Sandy was both the vixen and the star in her provocative video Mama.

The video, in which Ndebele sings passionately for the emancipation of the African child of her motherland, was lit up by a voluptuous Ndebelea��s performance. Whenever she performs, screams of a�?Sandy, Sandya�?, not dissimilar to the cries for Katarina a decade earlier, can be heard at her shows.

a�?The reason why Ia��ve managed to stay in the music industry is because Ia��m always me. I believe that Ia��ve managed to brand myself and thata��s why Ia��ve managed to outlast all the other women in my field, aside from those in the gospel music genre. The likes of Beater Magethe the late, and others have all come and gone but Ia��m still here,a�? she said in an interview.

Although her raunchy antics had already garnered fame for her beforehand, Bev a�?Beverlya�? Sibanda also had eyes glued on her during her performance in Ricky Firea��s Ndiratidze Zvaunoita. The popularity of the video has seen the duo not only perform duets in Zimbabwe but overseas as well.