Swaziland Bushfire…When Jah Prayzah started an army

Malkerns Swaziland – the headline show of the evening was Jah Prayzah and the 3rd Generation Band.

Marasta in the air…Mukudzei Mukombe

30 minutes before the show was to start fans from around Africa wore military clothing and were waving the Zimbabwe flag. Making sure they are right by the stage.

Nicknamed Musoja by his fans, as an army chanted “Jah Prayzah Jah Prayzah Jah Prayzah” as the band setup their instruments a marimba, saxophone, guitar and the usual sound check.

When the man of the moment arrived on stage smartly dressed in his signature look, the crowd went ballistic.
As I secured the front standing a young fan from South Africa asked me,

“Are you from Zimbabwe, how do I say I LOVE YOU in Shona.”

Immediately after learning the most important words to her at that moment she screamed, “Ndinokuda!” So that her Man Crush, Mukudzei Mukombe could hear in his own language her affectionate words.

It dawned on me that Zimbabwe has produced another musical superstar in music, his good looks have also made him a hunk to many fans.

Not one to dissapoint the uzumba musician managed to charm the crowd with the choreography, energy as he waved his locks and smiled at the crowd.

His ability to dance and maintain his vocal ability through his high energy songs. It is a shame his back up singer…the one who replaced gonyeti was a beautiful woman but her voice was more UGLYISHA…eish…sister kure ne microphone please!

Jah Prayzah with his best backup dancer and singer… I nicknamed her Tete

An hour set could not be enough as he sang “Mwanasikana anodiwa nehama”, Watora Mari we would have liked to hear Ngoda as well.

The final song was Mdhara Achauya…the most viral song of all his tracks.

However the dance section, where the music plays was cut short. That was the best song of his album that is being sung across cultures, an extended version for live performances would have been great for live performances… maybe as an opener.

ChiArmy chacho chakanyanya!

Still a world class act who stole the show at Bushfire Festival in Swaziland.

xoxo

robz

Mozambique Adventure . . .When Freshly Ground said the F word on stage at Azgo

It was a beautiful warm day and cool evening in Maputo as Azgo Festival fever filled the air.

Limited stock of the backpacks. A few will be made available from us. Source @ms_tatchai Instagram

Many guests sipping on the famous beer 2M known as the flavour of the coastal town at the event. Unfortunately the demand was higher than expected and the bar system proved inefficient if one did not speak Portuguese to grab attention.

Never the less the shopping stalls for African arts crafts and inspired designer clothes were abuzz with shoppers from around the world.

A main attraction was the electric performance by Freshly Ground who make a statement of activism in their song.

A moment to reflect was when Zolani heard a fan make an inappropriate comment about her removing her panties for him. As an african wife, mother and powerful woman she did not let this comment go. She addressed him by cussing at him for not being man enough, “fuck you” pulling a finger.

The audience was stunned; after explaining how the violence towards women in South Africa is fatal if we continue to ignore and condone such comments we will not progress. It was unaaceptable behaviour despite the situation.such abuse verbal and physical creates a dangerous scenario of women being treated as objects owned by all men.

I thought YEEEES Zolani YEEEEES you are standing up for us because even in our work environments we have to ignore it because we make excuses for violence against women.

A break made the band announce a call for political reform, speaking about HIFA and the song that got them deported on arrival The controversial Chicken To Change dedication to Robert G. Mugabe. Having a Zimbabwean guitarist in the band.

Not one to shy away from the unspeakable she dedicated it to many of the African leaders including Zuma.

The bold approach is one where you listen and decide whether you are in agreement with them or not. Politics seem to be very divisive for many who rather celebrate our similarities despite differing ideologies (Heineken ad anyone?).

To a packed audience the festival returnees gave their all to their fest goers.  The crowd danced to their breakout song – “Doo Be Doo” and the World Cup 2010 official song “Time For Africa” was a hit and unifying song to end their one hour slot at the festival.

Crowds continued to throng the one day event to listen to Brazilian Maria Gadu and Boss AC who rapped Portuguese hip hop. The whole world gathered in celebration for Azgo Festival

Language a barrier we made one friend at the fest who wasnt Anglophonetic and too bad for me also unable to speak the language

xoxo

robz

– via @hambanow

HAMBANOW.COM ready to party for the Mosi Lager Day of Thunder

Hamba Now is a new-age travel initiative that seeks to fulfill personal travel planning needs and curate one of the most affordable cultural tourism packages and that is the simple reason why I love being a member of their team.

Meaning that, where there is a cultural celebration, WE WILL BE THERE. With Diamond Platnumz it is promising to be a celebration, with VIP tag access we will be posting the most exclusive behind the scenes and on the scene posts on our INSTAGRAM and TWITTER.

As an advocate for affordable local tourism and diverse cultural experiences, travelling to Mosi Day Of Thunder to be held in the exciting town of Livingstone, Zambia on Saturday, April the 29th.

My first time at the festival, on this amazing gig for HAMBANOW, I am going to the festival solely with a ‘go with the flow’ attitude.

I look forward to meeting thousands of travel lovers of some of Africa’s beautiful and interesting children while the local brew of Mosi Lager.

Also having the tags will allow me access to view the actual MOSI OA TUNYA falls for free at Livingstone’s Victoria Falls Park.

Bias or not, i believe i am based in one of the coolest places in the world and I just cannot picture myself living anywhere else other than the eccentric and fascinating Victoria Falls town. Both Livingstone and my town share the river, amazing wildlife, culture, Zambezi and the iconic falls “MOSI OA TUNYA”.

The hashtag to follow is #MosiDayOfThunder

Together we THUNDER! 

HAMBA LET’S GO!

(By George Chigaru for HAMBANOW.com)

Meet George, our VicFalls HAMBA blogger to cover MOSI Day of Thunder

Tall, dark and handsome are the words to describe our brand new HAMBAnite (like Tanzanite is gem team member of HAMBANOW), George Chigaru (Who is also a reader of CONCRETE JUNGLE BLOG) from the resort town of the iconic Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.

The mullti-lingual hunk speaks English, Shona, Ndebele and Chewa is also a blogger, of his lifestyle blog VODKACOCONUTS – www.vodkacoconuts.co.zw.

Rocky Dawuni, African Reggae artist coming to Zimbabwe #HIFA2017

Ghanaian Reggae singer, nominated for Best Reggae Album at the GRAMMYS 2016 edition, Rocky Dawuni is coming for Harare International Festival of the Arts 2017.

We met the beautiful humble soul at Sauti za Busara as he was the main act. We spoke to his team at the festival and they expressed interest in coming to Zimbabwe’s HIFA.

Business lessons from @Tlale_Large Edgars workshop

Friday 26th of August was the day that the iconic designer, the first African to host a solo show at New York Fashion Week hosted a show in Harare at Meikles. In the morning he gave a designer’s workshop “Runway to Retail” which was altogether worthy for all startup entrepreneurs to hear.

David Tlale coming to #Zimbabwe @Tlale_Large

It was 2012 when I blogged at Zimbabwe Fashion Week, when David Tlale showcased at the finale. It was the night I will never forget,

Unlocking my potential thanks to Barclays @BOOSTFellowship

This post is a little different…

For a fashion blogger this post is different,  I work in online media administration and tweet for the most popular Business Newspaper brand. That is when I looked at myself and the business executives that I too wanted to be wealthy and set.

It was time to WORK WORK WORK!

I saw my dream car model being driven by a CEO who was also MC. A female MD be introduced as Mr. and she forgave the speaker for not thinking a woman can be MD, This was in 2015!

So 2016 came in and I was feeling refreshed from Holiday and cooked up an idea while there as to what I would do for 2016 differently. 2 Jan 2016… I decided to learn business management.

I applied for many opportunities, and got into TEEP! Before I applied my 2016 resolution was to register a company and I am so glad to go through that.

To further my local know how I signed up for BOOST Barclay’s event which had me thinking despite all political uprisings and controversies, artists in all forms of music as well as business people are here to provide a much-needed relief to situation.

Zimbabwe is not perfect, so if Barclay’s and TEEP are investing into us then we have something!

ABOUT BOOST LAUNCH, my full report!

BOOST Barclays Incubation Project launches for young SME owners

BOOST an acronym for “Building Opportunities on Student Talent” Fellowship sponsored by Barclay’s was launched on Wednesday 11 May, morning at the Meikles Hotel in Harare.

The event saw many young Zimbabwean SME owners between the ages of 20 to 35 years receive incubation services. The 12 month program is based on global standard incubation program which has been successful in over 20 countries.

BOOST Barclay’s Incubation provides young entrepreneurs the opportunity to accelerate and systematize their businesses with comprehensive support. Incubation hubs will be setup all over Zimbabwe in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru and Masvingo for entrepreneurs.

The end of the program will see 100 entrepreneurs selected as the top 100 to pitch at a final prize giving event which will be announced on a later date. The program continued with presentations by the various stakeholders and sponsors. A breakdown of the program curriculum was presented by Mr Tendai Sixpence from BOOST. Risk Management and Sources of funding was given by Mr Fred Nkiwane from Barclay’s. After which Executive Director of BOOST, Mrs Busi Marandure gave a background of BOOST.

The sponsor Barclays CEO, Mr G Guvamatanga gave a very honest speech to entrepreneurs to innovate instead of copying, having mentioned the trends included potato sacks, mushroom growing and now the quail bird trend. Guvamatanga encouraged young SME owners to focus on producing goods we are importing, which will mean we will import less than we export.

The lectures continued with a young Zimbabwean entrepreneur who shared his journey to operating a successful advertising energy as he narrated his personal experience operating his business. The launch was concluded by a handover ceremony of the funding from Barclay’s to BOOST and closing remarks from BOOST CEO Mr Mkanganwi….lots of dollars!!!

follow my insagram from 11may for pics!

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Never stop believing in yourself and Zimbabwe… go to a festival TRAVEL unwind and have some time to reflect on solutions and resolutions

xoxo

robz

Zimbabwe Music Awards #ZIMA7 Fashion

A good connect of mine K. Mush published pictures from ZIMA which were the 25th of February 2016, a Thursday.

Because I wanted to wake up early for the fitness dream to stay afloat, I decided to pass this opportunity. HOWEVER I was there for the pictures and Retweeting.

I am impressed that people finally get the importance of the fashion red carpet lifestyle!

So to be honest there are some ideas of fashion I disagree with, to me best dressed was Ammara Brown HANDS UP AND HAIL THE AFRO QUEEN!

BEST DRESSED

Miss Brown right with popular news anchor, Rumbi

Miss Brown accepting an award….it should double as a fashion icon award

At the RED carpet demure makeup and bright afro colourful dress and yes that hair…woooop woop

OTHER RANDOM PICS

The AVANTE GARDE dress of the moment, Elephant Dress to raise awareness worn by Selmor Mtukudzi

Candice in a red gown and Tich Mataz – yes the most ancient everyone uses this guy for these typa shows MC

Cynthia Mare in a pink two piece

Cynthia Mare

Former model now giving music a shot, Miss Vanessa Sibanda…

Bloggers, my peoples, Alex – journalist, former editor for Parade Online and blog Persuasion Inc ZW is her current muse…she likes gelato and all the food I like. And Sharron Mungazi RIGHT Blogger for DeffinatlyShaz style blog

Tich and Cindy who is wearing a very dope dress…goddamn

That Guy Tich and Cindy – singer and boutique owner giving us granny swag in grey extensions

Do check out K. Mush on his photographic documentation of the world around him

COMMENT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF THE FASHION SEEN AT ZIMA2016????

xoxo

robz

#NAMA2016 Awards are upon us!

Praise the Lawt!

Yes the National Arts Merit Awards are out and nominees include Mr Tswatswa Mutasa (Brand Photographer for Ngosikadzi) and Zambezi News (my favourite Zim satirical comedy).

That is amazing news, given how I had heard of Mr Tswa’s short film project via the grapevine.

ABOUT ZAMBEZI NEWS

Zimbabwe’s hit satire show, Zambezi News, has been nominated for the Freedom of Expression Awards in the UK. The Freedom of Expression Awards are organised annually by the UK-based Index on Censorship and are seen as a leading free expression award in the country. Zambezi News, created by top Zimbabwean creatives Samm Farai Monro aka Comrade Fatso and Tongai Makawa aka Outspoken, has been named as one of the finalists in the Index 100 long list.

“Index on Censorship supports the excellent work of Zambezi News, which we believe is crucial in the ongoing fight to improve conditions for free expression globally,” said Index On Censorship in a press release. “We sincerely hope Zambezi News will continue its fantastic efforts to combat threats to free speech.” The awards are scheduled for 13th April 2016 in London.

“We are honoured to get nominated for such a global award,” says Zambezi News creator Comrade Fatso. “It shows how our show and our message is reaching a global audience.” It has been a great year for Zambezi News as the show became a global satire sensation in early 2015 getting coverage from CNN, BBC, The Guardian and Channel 4. The news team was then invited on a comedy tour of Europe and Mauritius in August 2015. This was followed by Zambezi News getting signed by the new Zambezi Magic TV channel. Zambezi News is a production of Magamba Network, a leading Zimbabwean creative organisation.