Raunchy dancer Beverly re-invents herself

By Mtandazo Dube

Love her or hate her — Beverly “Bev” Sibanda has ripped the nation apart with her trail-blazing raunchy and well-choreographed moves since she descended onto the local showbiz scene a few years ago.

She has scaled the heights that saw Bulawayo-based Sandra Ndebele or even Botswana’s Slizer become household names, yet she is hungry for more.

While dancing is her forte, it is her ability to re-invent herself over the years that has made her hard to ignore. Just as everyone thought the 22-year-old had reached her zenith, having performed at the inaugural Harare International Carnival and having shared the stage with almost every celebrated artiste, Bev has brewed yet another shocker.

This time around it has nothing to do with pole or bottle-dancing — the dancer has released a six-track album, Tapinda, which features not one but two renowned artistes, iconic South African singer Freddy “Amadamara” Gwala and talented chanter Shiga Shiga. The album is set to be launched this coming Wednesday.

But what could be the reason the accomplished dancer decided to take up singing, one wonders.

“I have always been a singer. Way back at Selbourne Routledge Primary School and later on at Charles Clark School in Magunje where I did my primary education — I was already singing,” said the soft-spoken dancer.

She continued: “It was, however, not until I was at Zengeza 2 High School that I actually transformed my choir-girl singing to more adventurous types. As you know we grew up during the time of urban grooves music.”

The mother of one says since it was more expensive to do music, which required someone to have a fairly good financial background, she settled for dancing.

“Working for a group as a dancer was much easier than looking for money to record. Which is why I worked with Zalabantu, Red Angels and Cleo before finally starting my own dance group, which dances according to my style,” she explained.

But how did this mere dancer capture the attention of Amadamara, grab Shiga Shiga from several well-to-do suitors, musically, and be produced by one of the leading producers in Botswana, Dr Tawanda (real name Tawanda Kasaira)?

“It was Dr Tawanda that first tempted me to take up music seriously. Because of the social media, information got to him that there was a Bev in Zimbabwe who was, according to him, ‘a better dancer than Slizer’ — so he came to see for himself.

“He came to one of our shows to watch us perform and after that he told me if I would not do it willingly (singing) then he would force me to. After all he was already working with Slizer and he told me that it took less effort to turn me into a great singer than it did to suppress the talent,” narrated Bev.

The Dr Tawanda encounter was to be the first real temptation, but she had already been told by both Suluman Chimbetu and Alick Macheso that she should try her hand at singing but had not taken them seriously.

And as fate would have it — while again dancing, a visiting Gwala, who is known for his club hopping, found his way to Bev’s show.

“Freddy just approached my manager, Hapers, who at first thought the artiste was just looking for a girl to bed. However, he turned out to be the real deal after he wrote a song and gave me to sing. He was impressed and from then the die was cast,” she said.

Amadamara, who confirmed that he would be landing in the country today for the launch, whose main event is at the City Sports Gardens this Friday, says he cannot wait for the album to hit the market.

“I will be there, my brother. I have been waiting for this moment a long time and my sister who is here (South Africa) tells me everything is in place,” said Gwala from his SA base.

The accomplished artiste, who is known for his easygoing nature, confirmed that he had a hand in the production of the album, but he let Bev do all the work.

“I just wrote one song and assisted the producer write another one — the rest of the songs she wrote on her own,” he said before adding: “Don’t forget that beauty on its own is an asset, but this girl is not only beautiful, she is a good dancer and can sing, she is definitely headed for the stars.”

On what attracted the South African music icon to Bev in the first place, Freddy said it was all by coincidence.

“It was by chance, but when I saw her dance I immediately realised that she was sitting on gold. I have seen people with far much less talent making it in the showbiz industry,” said Amadamara.

Amadamara features on a track titled Tshayingoma and the rest of the album consists of the title track (Tapinda), Best Mama, Tsika Usambotya, Ndoita Sei Ndadiwa and Vemakuhwa.

Commenting on the songs, Bev said her album is loaded with music that she enjoys dancing to, thus she will not stop gyrating in night clubs any time soon.

The producer of the album, Botswana-based Dr Tawanda (real name Tawanda Kasaira), will also jet in to see his latest product hit the ground running. Dr Tawanda is a household name in Botswana and is locally famed for having remixed a string of sungura king Alick Macheso’s songs that went on to become hits.

However, it is the presence of Shiga Shiga, who has been linked with both Bev and Young Igwe’s groups, that will send tongues wagging at the launch.

“I have said this and I will repeat it, I am working with Beverly now. I like to see young talent like this blossom and provide competition to the big guns that are very few and continue to manipulate and control things in the industry.

“We have been rehearsing for a very long time with Bev since she completed recording of the album. She is ready to perform and if anyone doubts that then they should come and see her sing not dance,” declared Shiga.

Her manager, Hapaguti “Hapers” Mapimhidze, who has been running around for the anticipated mammoth launch, while Bev shops for costumes and other launch-related material in South Africa, said everything was in place.

“People still underestimate her (Bev), but she is so much more,” said Hapers before adding: “She pulls better crowds than most established musicians in this country and rakes in way more money. She is extremely talented, but people tend to associate her with just raunchy dancing.

“This debut album will take her to a higher level, one which very few female artistes have enjoyed in this country. The sound is tight, the lyrics on point and the vocals unbelievable.”

“There is no stopping for Bev now. The good thing is that hard work is her second name,” said Hapers.

To many, she remains somewhat an enigma, but hopefully this new project, her album, will give some insight into what really goes on in her head — perhaps maybe a hint on her life story. The Sunday Mail