By Noel Munzabwa
They had waited and hoped Mudhara Vachauya, and when he eventually did shortly after midnight on Friday, Jah Prayzah brought to the stage a captivating and warm debut Bushfire.
He had almost everyone on his feet dancing to the different songs.
For Zimbabweans living in Swaziland and those that had travelled to the Kingdom, the language was clear and singing along provided a melodious backing creating a frenzy environment.
The revellers sang along songs such as Eriza, Watora Mari among others, and one favourite line that grew out loud was ‘goto rine hwema muchariona’ before Jah Prayzah wound up his ‘short’ one hour and twenty minutes allocation with Mudhara Vachauya.
Many Zimbabweans, among them a pharmacy technician working in Swaziland, Godfrey Mazonde, were left clamouring for more.
“You can see by the way the crowd just went crazy when Jah Prayzah took to the stage. It’s unfortunate the time allocation was too short. No one wanted him to stop. My favourite song was the one with following lyrics Goto rine hwema muchariona and Eriza, Watora Mari and Mudhara Vachauya,” said Mazonde.
And yet for thousands more, that the Shona lyrics were foreign to them didn’t matter because just the mere sound of a fusion between jazzy laced Afrocentric and contemporary beats was good enough a bushfire to keep them warm in the temperature chilled valleys.
Once done with Swaziland, it was time for Jah Prayzah to take a brief nap before travelling to Johannesburg where he was due to perform on Saturday night, but his fire had indeed left a mark at the 11th edition of the MTN Bushfire.
Every year around 25 000 music fans from across the globe gather in the scenic Malkerns Valleys of Swaziland to experience the internationally acclaimed event.
MTN Bushfire is not just a music festival but a holistic experience made up of a rich texture of arts, cultures, crafts, food and people, carefully curated into specialised zones, to create an explosive three-day event and a memorable take home, family-friendly experience.
The festival ended on Sunday afternoon with jazz music icon Hugh Masekela putting icing to the cake. The Chronicle
