The Sunday News
Mbongeni Msimanga and Thobekisiwe Gumede Sunday Leisure Reporters
THE Kalawa homecoming show which has become an annual event is expected to bring down the curtain in the city’s entertainment calendar as it did last year although this year the show seems to have engaged a higher gear with an assortment of local acts expected to perform alongside the South Africa outfit.
The show will be held on 27 December at Queens Sport Club.
With people already in the festive mood that is punctuated with reckless spending, the show is no doubt going to be one of the biggest slated for Bulawayo which has become famous for supporting foreign acts.
More local groups who on their own will not manage to wow the difficult Bulawayo music fans have this year been given an opportunity to showcase their talent to a bigger audience that will be keen on seeing the legends of house and kwaito music working out the Y Tjukutja magic that got fans emptying their pockets last year as they danced the night away.
Bulawayo-born house legend Oscar “Oskido” Mdlongwa will lead the Kalawa stable that will comprise Pepsi, Stiff, Bricks, Mdu, Mandoza, Berita, Alaska, Uhuru, Character, Zola and Jahseed.
The local acts will feature DJ Scooby, Kwabatsha Generals, Skaiva, Defined House, DJ Taunz and DJ Sbago.
Show co-ordinator for Kalawa, Vusumuzi Siqalaba said it was all systems go and confirmed that more local acts had been given the platform to perform at the show.
Given the number of fans that are expected to attend the show this year, Siqalaba said it was an opportunity for the selected Bulawayo artistes performing at the festival to put a splendid display of their talent as that was a platform for them to rally support from Bulawayo fans.
“I believe that the local acts have what it takes and we have given them an opportunity to showcase their talent at the festival. They are doing well locally and the fact that some of them were nominated for the recently held Zimbabwe Music Awards gives them more credit to perform and do well at the festival,” he said.
Defined House group leader Thokozani Hlabangana said fans should brace themselves for more entertaining house music and believes their current compilation had what it takes to be remembered by the local fans.
Already, the house ensemble is working with South African DJ Pepsi and their performance is likely to get fans on their feet as well as endear themselves with the local market.
Amigos, which is a group under Defined House stable, recently released a track “Rabvongobvu” that is proving to be a hit on ZiFM and Star FM after getting some guidance from the Kalawa legends.
The show has also provided a suitable platform for multi-talented local artiste, Qeqeshiwe Mntambo, to launch her new single.
“The compilation of songs that we have so far playing on our local radio stations will be loved by our fans. The team that we have so far comprises a group called Amigos and Qeqeshiwe who is also expected to drop her new single during the Kalawa homecoming Festival,” said Hlabangana.
Defined House recently held a show in Harare that featured prominent Zimbabwean artistes Oliver Mtukudzi and Zim dancehall man of the moment Obey Makamure popularly known as Tocky Vibes and fans seemed to like their music.
Some of their tracks that have received airplay on the local radio stations are Chimweme and Womgufeinong and are expected to be popular among fans.
Kwabatsha Generals’ Trust Madolo said they were raring to go for the gig with preparations at an advanced stage.
This is the first time they will be performing at the show although they have shared the stage with the Kalawa duo of Professor and Dr Malinga.
The group has featured in numerous singles and is working with South African group, Uhuru.
“We are going to perform three of our best songs, maybe we might even launch our new track Khatsha that we did with the South African group, Uhuru,” said Madolo.
“This is the first time we are going to be sharing the stage with Kalawa in Zimbabwe. When Kalawa was here last year we were staging shows in Mozambique so we did not have a chance to perform with them but we have had several shows with them in South Africa. I would say that the crowd received us well so we will try not to disappoint.”
Bulawayo DJ Mqondisi Sibanda also known as Skaiva said he was looking forward to the show and believes it was the right platform that would open doors for him and others in the music industry.
Skaiva was this year nominated at the Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) for best house music and best newcomer in the industry.
“Kalawa homecoming is one of the biggest shows in the country so I believe it’s going to open doors for some of us who are fairly new in the industry. Right now we are preparing for the show with the guys that I will be performing with. I am going to be working hand in hand with Mzoe7 and Rakeem. We will also be shooting a video for our song Chinoshura which features the two artistes,” he said.
The Kalawa homecoming show is the brainchild of South African producer, entrepreneur, DJ, songwriter and artiste Mdlongwa who is fondly known as the Big “O” or Oskido.
Oskido’s biggest impact in the music industry has been in helping grooming and ushering in young artistes as well as revolutionising the kwaito and house music genres.
The group was formed by Oskido, Don Laka and Christos Katsaitis in the 90s.
The Independent label’s first act was Boom Shaka, which brought into the picture the Kwaito revolution.
The label has been home to the who’s who of influential names in South Africa’s music industry such as Bongo Maffin, Mafikizolo, Trompies, Thebe, DJ Vetkuk, Spikiri and Alaska.
Although with time the partners have changed while some of the musicians were weaned and started their own things, Oskido has remained the real face behind the label and has managed to turn Kalawa Jazmee into a bona fide African music industry success story that has given birth to prominent artistes such as Uhuru, Heavy K, Busiswa whose music has had an international appeal.
