Can Dondo turn up the heat?

When Sam Dondo entered the music industry last year, amid great hype, some of his songs were classified in the same bracket with Jah Prayzah and Andy Muridzo’s projects because of its bias towards traditional contemporary style.

Dondo became another person pursuing a genre that made Jah Prayzah a household name, although he had his own fusions of other styles.

A few other musicians also joined the line, but remained underground.

It did not come as a coincidence that Dondo and Jah Prayzah collaborated on the former’s track titled ‘Zviuya Zvirimberi’, which is one of the outstanding songs on his debut offering ‘Dyara Munamato’.

It was a clear statement that Dondo saw something of value in Jah Prayzah’s music and his style shows that the early hits from the Uzumba-bred artist inspired him.

They were the same songs that inspired Muridzo and the three found themselves in the same ship.

But recent developments have brought a different scenario.

After diverting from his beat to focus on penetrating the international market, Jah Prayzah also took Muridzo under his wings.

Muridzo was signed by Jah Prayzah’s Military Touch Movement and it seems the young man is prepared to follow his master after every footstep.

Muridzo’s new album has also come with a good load of cooked beats that are purported to be targeting the international market too.

In a recent interview with this paper, Muridzo said he was prepared to ‘humble himself’ to the extent of thinning into Jah Prayzah’s tail because he wanted his idol to take him abroad ‘ meaning that he has agreed to also divert from his original beat.

It was that original beat that had given Muridzo sympathy as people were optimistic he would fill the gap left by Jah Prayzah.

Muridzo’s new album ‘Tichambotenderera’ dealt a further blow to fans that were already disappointed by the musician’s move to join a competitor’s stable in a suspicious move. So, where does Dondo stand in this puzzle?

He becomes another source of hope that a promising baby that Jah Prayzah abandoned in its infancy for admiration of a foreigner’s child can get another care-giver.

The beautiful beat that Jah Prayzah originated is gradually becoming fatherless.

The hope in Muridzo as an apparent saviour is waning out.

All this time, Dondo was out of the picture as the events unfolded with unexpected haste.

Now that he has readied his new album titled ‘Game Changer’ that will be launched tonight at Meikles Hotel, lights have now turned to the young man.

Dondo’s situation is similar to Muridzo’s case in that this would be his second album in pursuing traditional contemporary beat.

Muridzo stole hearts with his second album ‘Ngarizhambe’ and Dondo will surely have no excuse in a thin discography because the former shook the industry with the same number of releases.

Now that the lights have turned to him, Dondo will have to prove that he can indeed change the game as his album title suggests.

If the album comes in a shape that Dondo described, it might fall into the gap that the Military Touch Movement duo seems determined to widen further.

And the young man is confident he is the right saviour of the abandoned baby.

“I think this album will go a long way in representing the beat that we all admire. I have always liked that beat and that is why I collaborated with Jah Prayzah. I have tried my best to keep that beat on this album, although I fuse it with my own style to give it my identity,” said Dondo.

“This is a 13-track album and I have also given room to other creative forms, but most of the songs are based on the traditional beat on which I hinged my first album.

“The album is also coming with two videos and we will show the other side of the group’s creativity. We are hopeful that the launch will be a good event, but – above all – we are looking forward to a successful album. The Herald