Watora Mari concert thrills

By Tawanda Matanhire

The much-hyped Watora Mari Concert, which featured Jah Prayzah and Tanzania’s Diamond Platnumz, lived up to its billing at Harare International Conference Centre last Friday.

The musicians proved that language is no barrier in music. Although the show started two hours later than scheduled, it was worth the wait as local artistes who included T Gonz, Trevor Dongo, Extra Large, ExQ and Stunner gave their best.

T Gonz

As the opening act, T Gonz set the tone for the night with the “hip hop yekughetto” rhymes which were received well by many and some sang along to the popular “Zvenyu” track. The young artiste made good use of his popular ghetto punch lines.

Ex-Q

Ex Q showed a reflection of maturity in the game with a star performance alongside a well-choreographed act from his team of dancers. He gradually upped the hype for the event when he unleashed most of his popular hits among them “Bhachura” and “Alleluia”.

Good choreography added flavour to his slot as people cheered to some of the best live dance performers who seemed to have energy to go for the whole night had it not been for a limited slot.

Stunner

Stunner might have been a bad boy of late, but surely he proved he has his following. He did not disappoint as part of the audience sang along to some of their favourite tunes which included “Zvinorwadza Sei” and Chibhodhoro”.

He proved that despite the watered down urban groves genre in which he is categorised, he is one of the few still making an impact.

Trevor D

Trevor Dongo set the house on fire, taking fans down memory lane with hits “Nerunako”, “Ndashamisika” and “African Queen” winning the cheers of fans. He pulled a shocker by taking off his shirt to the amusement of most ladies although the gesture was received with mixed feelings among male fans.

He invited Extra-large of the Maroja fame, who revisited old tunes to sending crowd into frenzy with the track “Kushamura Newe” and “Waungade” among others. They did well before the entrance of Judgement Yard.

Judge Yard duo Flavour and Atherton who ignited HICC with the reggae session with almost everyone in the giant venue submitting to the chants. Among the favoured tunes were Winky D’s “Panorwadza Moyo”,Jah Cure’s “All of me” and Busy Signal’s “Free up Black people”.

Killer T

The Chairman surely needs to do a lot more as his act was received with mixed feelings. As an antic to give some sort of suspense his delay to pitch on to the stage was almost sending a bad signal to people as they were becoming impatient.

He gradually improved on his slot though he started on a very low note. This was an improvement from his previous shows where people had no kind words for him.

Among the songs he performed were “Kumanikidzira Rudo”, “Takangodaro” and “Maisafanira Kundirega”.

Jah Prayzah

The moment people had been waiting for had arrived. Clad in white T-shirt and camouflage trousers the band came on stage with a surprise come back of Stimela on the line-up of backing vocalists.

Jah Prayzah made his grand entrance sending the whole auditorium screaming as they geared up for a memorable slot. As always the man delivered but remarkably the way he performed the song “Goto” left many people wondering if he was still himself or rather he was possessed.

Songs which were people`s favourites are from his 2015 album “Jerusarema”. He however, mixed them with the ones from “Mdhara Vachaya” album and they complemented well.

Diamond Platnumz

The main highlight of the night lastly took to the stage. Many people disapproved the delays that were being made as they prepared for his performance and this almost killed the enthusiasm.

His good had a point to prove that they indeed meant business as they prepared and restored fans trust for their performance. He started off with the infamous songs leading and later engaged the audience as part of his performance which saw women including raunchy dancer Beverly Sibanda joining him on stage.

When he did the song “Number 1”which was an anthem in the building, it saw the atmosphere changing as many enjoyed the favourite track. Other song he did well included “Waje”, “Nasema Nawe” and “Kidongo” among others.

Finally he called in man-of-the-moment Jah Prayzah for “Watora Mari” song performance which many people had waited for all night. The performance was enhanced with the appearance of the beautiful Tiffany who also showed her moves in a sexy red dress.

They interrelated perfectly proving that music art can be interesting even from people of different worlds.

Overview

After the show Diamond said that he was even shocked with the way people responded to his show. “I really enjoyed the show and I was even surprised with the way Zimbabweans responded,”Diamond said.

“I am so humbled with the love Zimbabweans showed me it was really a good experience,” he added. He said he was impressed with the way Jah Prazah performed and understands why Zimbabweans loves him so much.

Jah Prayzah said that he will be getting into more collaborations as they have paid off for him. “The Collaboration with Diamond opened up new doors and I will be investing in more collaborations for 2017,” he said.

“Already there is a lot more we are working on and when the time comes I will be announcing next projects. The Herald