Dancehall musicians stampede for Macheso

By Godwin Muzari

Following the massive success of Freeman and Alick Macheso’s collaboration titled “Ngaibake”, a number of dancehall musicians have approached the sungura star requesting for duets.

“Ngaibake” has become an anthem in showbiz and its popularity has been enhanced by the video that portrays Macheso in a different style.

Macheso rarely shoots videos and his appearance on “Ngaibake” seems to have quenched his fans’ thirst for seeing him in a visual production.

His collaboration with Freeman has also brought a refreshing appeal to sungura-dancehall artistic fusion.

In an interview yesterday, Macheso said the popularity of the collaboration has attracted many youngsters from the dancehall terrain who are willing to engage the sungura guru for joint productions.

“I have been approached by a number of young musicians that want to work with me on their projects. Most of them are from the dancehall genre and they say they admire what we did with Freeman. The song is doing well and I am glad. It is a sign of an important cohesion of generations,” said Macheso.

“I have made arrangements with a number of the young singers, but I feel it is too early to go into the studio for another collaboration. I believe it is prudent to give Freeman his time to shine with ‘Ngaibake’.

“We are not in a contest. We are here to complement each other in providing quality entertainment to our fans. I am prepared to work with everyone and I will definitely have a number of collaborations. It is a matter of time.”

Macheso said he learnt a lot from the late legend Dr Oliver Mtukudzi who did many collaborations with musicians of various genres.

“I have done some collaborations before and I believe such duets contributed to the growth of the industry. These young musicians always look up to their elders for assistance and guidance. My late brother Tuku had so many successful collaborations with young musicians and I realise that most of them are now looking up to me for the assistance. Tuku’s departure left a gap that is not easy to fill and I have concluded that the many requests and inquiries I am getting from young musicians are a result of the gap that Tuku left.

“I will do my best to assist anyone who engages me. I have already been assisting some sungura musicians at my Alema Studios, but I realise the task will be bigger. Many musicians from other genres are ready to come aboard.”

Macheso said he will also be working on some videos to give fans different versions of visual productions.

“We have not been concentrating on videos over the past years and I would like to tell my fans that something is in the pipeline. We will work on a video soon and we are currently in discussions with our partners to finalise the preparatory work.”

The main sponsor of “Ngaibake” project is Nash Paints company, which has worked with both Macheso and Freeman on various projects. Nash Paints director Tinashe Mutarisi said they are prepared to work with Macheso in his video projects.

“He has been our ambassador and we have done many other projects together. We are prepared to assist him in other projects including the video suggestions that he has been talking about,” said Mutarisi.

“He is a legend whose works should be documented through various videos so that future generations can enjoy his creative prowess and watch him doing what he knows best. Most comments about ‘Ngaibake’ video showed that people were excited about Macheso’s appearance.

“Most of his recent videos are from live shows and I am convinced that many people want to see him in productions off the stage. We are glad to be associated with ‘Ngaibake’, which is undoubtedly the song of the moment and we will continue working with Macheso and Freeman at various levels.”

The collaboration has given birth to many joint shows featuring Macheso and Freeman. Recently their gig at Pamuzinda was well-attended and their joint performance was great.

In an interview, Freeman said he was glad to work with Macheso.

“I salute my elder and I am happy with the projects we are doing together. Macheso is a humble and talented man. He has wisdom and he is easy to work with. I am glad that our collaboration is doing well and we are looking forward to a number of joint shows,” said Freeman. The Herald