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Oliver Mtukudzi

Fred Zindi Music
Given the large number of Zimbabweans living in the UK at the moment, some brilliant Zimbabweans also living in the UK must have thought that music festivals are the perfect way to combine a love for music and the meeting of all Zimbabweans in the UK.

I am sure they must have also thought that they would make some money from these Zimbos along the way.

SAMA Festival is therefore the answer to this equation which brings together people from all over the UK Last year, the festival attracted thousands of Zimbabweans at its London and Leicester venues.

This year sees a repetition of the same. The only difference is that this year the artistes invited to perform for the UK-based Zimbabweans are different from those invited last year.

Y2K Promotions, this year, hatched the idea of SAMA (Southern African Music & Arts) Festival which was held in two parts, first in London on the 20th of June with the theme “Zimbabwe Versus Uganda”. Performances at the London gig were supposed to be delivered by Dr Oliver Mtukudzi, Tocky Vibes, Kinnah, London-based Zivai Guveya and a Ugandan musician, Dr Jose Chameleone.

According to Fred Matenga, one of the Y2K promoters, Dr Chameleone did not turn up for the event due to complications regarding his visa application.

So the London phase of the festival featured only Zimbabwean artistes.

Thirty three-year-old Sam Museta, one of my facebook friends, who was at the gig summarised the whole event of the 20th as follows:

“I work in a sandwich factory in Brixton. When I heard the news that SAMA Festival would feature Oliver Mtukudzi and Jah Prayzah, I rushed to call Welly T to book two tickets for the London gig as I could not afford to go to Leicester for the next gig. Advance tickets were 28 pounds each (about US$42) but I made the sacrifice even though I knew this would create a deep hole into my pocket.

“The last concert I had attended in London and paid a hefty 20 pounds was by American R&B singer, Keith Sweat at the O2 Arena some five years back.

“Although expensive, I could not afford to miss this one, dubbed the SAMA Festival. Such events which come once a year are worth the sacrifice. By Thursday the 18th, I had secured the two advance tickets. I then called in sick at work as I was supposed to be on duty that Saturday night. The next thing after that, I called my girlfriend who was equally excited about the festival.

“Come Saturday, around 5 pm, we were on the Victoria Line Underground train from Brixton to Victoria.

“We changed to the Metropolitan and District Line which took us to Liverpool Street. At Liverpool Street there was a fifteen minute delay. Here, we changed trains again and took the Overground train to Gospel Oak. We completed the journey by bus which took us straight to the Royal Regency Banqueting Hall in Manor Park. We were at the venue at 6.25 pm. The show had not started.

“So we headed for the nearby pub where there were scores of other Zimbabweans also waiting for the gig. At around 7.30pm, we began to drift towards the hall.

“Although I did not see many Ugandans, except for the two I was chatting with earlier in the pub about the border-borders which are used as the main mode of transport in Kampala, there was a good turnout of Zimbos.

Inside the venue, which was nicely decorated, we were first of all entertained by a DJ who played some Zim dancehall music.

“Later, we were treated to live music from Zivayi Guveya. Although he was said to be London-based, very few people in London, including myself had heard of him before.

“After his performance, the crowd began to swell and it was time for Tocky Vibes with his band to come on stage. This was my first time to see this lanky young man in real life.

“Even though I had listened to his hits such as ‘Mhai’ and ‘Tocky Aenda Nenyika’, my imagination of how the guy looked fell short of what he really is.

“I thought he would look like Dino Mudondo or Willom Tight, the two musicians I was familiar with during my days in Mabvuku.

“However, it was only after Tocky’s performance that I was disappointed to learn that Jah Prayzah was not scheduled to perform on this night. The poster for the Festival which I had seen on social media had the picture of Jah Prayzah standing next to Oliver Mtukudzi and Tocky Vibes. In my excitement, I had not read the poster properly.

“It was clear on the poster that the Festival was divided into two parts, June 20 and June 27. Jah Prayzah would only appear on June 27, not in London, but at the Maher Centre in Leicester. I contemplated suing the promoters of this event until I read the poster once again, only to discover that indeed Jah Prayzah was scheduled for the 27th. I thought to myself how clever the promoters must be.

“My only consolation was that many people had made the same mistake as me, but I am not travelling to Leicester on another Saturday when I am supposed to be at work.

“Jah Prayzah will have to come back on another occasion for me and my girlfriend to see him. We were also compensated by the fact that although we had seen him perform in London on three occasions before, Oliver Mtukudzi later came onto the stage and gave a brilliant performance.”

I am not sure why Sam Museta did not mention Kinnah’s performance in his narrative report, but I am told that Kinnah was part of the performances and he gave a good account of himself.

I later spoke to Fred Matenga who told me that there were 700 people in attendance at the Royal Regency Banqueting Hall in London and he was expecting a bigger turnout of around 2 000 in Leicester.

I asked him why he had cut down Jah Prayzah’s band by five people and whether he was aware that by doing so, there would be disgruntlement among the remaining members which may lead to the Third generation band breaking up.

His response was:

“International tours are expensive and at times we have to compromise the big groups like Jah’s.”

I said to him that Jah Prayzah’s full band, The Third Generation, has brought a lot of excitement in Zimbabwe. I am not sure how Jah is going to go down without five of his bandmates, to which he replied:“We are also excited for Jah cause it’s been a long time since he last came to the UK.”

Jah Prayzah left for the UK on Thursday, June 25 and arrived on Friday. He spent the Friday relaxing in preparation for the gig in Leicester on Saturday. My friend Sam Museta, did not go to this one, but I contacted someone else within the band to give me a report on how it all went.

At the time of going to press I had not received the report, but I am certain that Jah Prayzah delivered to the best of his ability.(Soja Rinosvika Kure.) I will speak to Keen Mushapaidze, JahPrayzah’s new manager on their return this week to find out how it all went.

I can only speculate that Saturday’s line-up in Leicester was strong, with Tuku, Tocky Vibes , Kinnah and of course Jah Prayzah whom everybody was waiting for but could have benefited more if he had performed with his full band.

This would have brought the curtain down on this SAMA festival which, to many Zimbabweans is starting to feel like a serious alternative to being at home in Zimbabwe for gigs held at the HICC or HIFA.

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