…Macheso promises snippets of forthcoming album

Ngoni Dapira

THE effervescent sungura maestro Alick ‘Extra Basso’ Macheso and his Orchestra Mberikwazvo have promised fireworks this Friday at the family show slated for Mandel Leisure Centre at Watsomba growth point.

Sungura superstar Alick Macheso

Mandel Leisure Centre situated about 40 kilometres out of Mutare along the Mutare-Nyanga highway has fast grown to become the preferred home of live shows because of its spacious and well secured setup which can accommodate many people.

The perennial hitmaker popularly known as Extra Basso will share the stage with the lively Baba Harare whose real name is Braveman Chizvino and his The City Vibration band. Dubbed the ‘MaRay Birthday bash’ in honour of the proprietor Lovemore Mandimutsira’s wife, Sylvia, who will be turning 40, the family show billed to start at 2pm will be their first gig this year. The cover charge will be US$10.

Baba Harare

Baba Harare, a former Jah Prayzah guitarist and jiti musician who is known mostly for his 2017 chart buster ‘The Reason Why’ over a short space of time since going solo is now a force to reckon with in the local music industry. Apart from his signature jiti music, his versatility and talent as a musician was recently shown in his collaborations like the 2021 hit song ‘Rita’ that featured socialite Mai TT and ‘Love in the air’ which featured Nikol that also did well on the local music charts. But his fans will definitely look forward to hear some of his jiti songs such as ‘Guzuzu’, ‘Mabamura Stambo’, ‘Wemberi Wemberi’ and ‘Hakuna Mvana’ to mention a few, which always get crowds fired up during his shows.

Macheso’s publicist Tich Makahamadze confirmed the top biller show and said this would be their first show in the eastern border city this year, so Macheso fans should brace for an energized, five star performance. “We are coming with our full Orchestra Mberikwazvo entourage to give our fans a befitting show. We always love the energy from our Manicaland fans so they should brace for nothing short of fireworks from the sungura maestro,” said Makahamadze in an interview with Easterntimeszim on Tuesday.

Macheso and his band members teaching the children at KudaVana Children’s Home in Zimunya how to do the Zora Butter dance last year on his birthday.

Makahamadze said Macheso’s fans can get snippets of his much awaited forthcoming 12th album which is expected to be out on 10 June, which will be on Macheso’s birthday. Last year Macheso celebrated his 53rd birthday with orphans at KudaVana Children’s Home in Zimunya, Mutare South as part of his philanthropic deeds to raise support for orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs) in the country.

Despite being situated in the peri-urban area of Watsomba, the colossal and modern built Mandel Leisure centre is now loved for its spacious facility. Its VIP section offers separate bar facilities to ease congestion for high class patrons that often do not want hustles. Being squashed is often a deterring concern for most revelers during shows, but at Mandel Leisure Centre the design was meant to accommodate large crowds.

The MaRay Birthday bash

“We have put in place the sanitary covid-19 measures and very excited about this family show which will also be my birthday tribute. I look forward to see Macheso and Baba Harare fans come in numbers to enjoy this show which will be very extravagant as we have gone all out to make sure everything will be in place. February is the month of love so this will be an early Valentine’s Day present as well for revelers to enjoy with their loved ones. Full bar and catering, gochi gochi will all be available for a memorable musical experience,” said Sylvia Mandimutsira.

The multi- award winning Macheso who has grown to become the darling of Zimbabwe’s sungura music has been known to be a perennial hit-maker ever since he went solo after leaving Nicholas Zacharia and the Khiama Boys in the 1990s. He is a philanthropist, brand ambassador for so many companies and has over the years helped many budding artistes step up in their careers.