The Sunday News
Sithatshisiwe Gwaza, Sunday Life Reporter
THROUGH years of toiling, commitment and dedication to the arts — music genre to be specific, Mzoe 7, real name Mzobanzi Mlauzi has come to be some kind of a genius among his circles and his Afro pop artistic level.
Like any celebrity, he has become a role model to the youths and those that follow his music and this time he came with a scintillating single featuring Plumtree secondary and primary schoolchildren in a song called Dlala.
The song revolves around dance and interacting between friends, it seeks to foster a spirit of togetherness and responsibility among the young people.
The Plumtree schoolchildren have set out on a harrowing yet hopeful journey which was glossed by the longtime players who are at the top of their game Mzoe 7, DJ Skaiva and La Dee. Mzoe 7 and the other artistes successfully balanced their introspection, and self-reflection in a powerful statement encouraging teens that when they go out to mingle with others, they should come back home early hence the lyrics udlale kwakwana.
The track carries a magically surprising lyrics in a gqom track that orates respect in the sense of addressing people in a respectful manner, exposed in the lyrics (Ankela, Malume) when acknowledging one of the producers — Handy.
When asked where the idea to feature the Plumtree schoolchildren came from Mzoe 7 said, “I was first called by Handy asking me to help the kids write their debut song, having seen their promotional deeds on Facebook, I jumped into the noble cause and helped them write their first debut song titled Haybo.
The aspiring producer Handy, is on a quest to uplift his town (Plumtree), and elevate talent in his town, that being his reason for helping the Plumtree schoolchildren on their Gqom track. Despite their talent, their dedication, drive and passion was my reason to accept the collaboration, hence my effort to travel to Plumtree for the video collaboration despite the fatigue from the Harare Old Mutual Flexi launch performance.”
The Plumtree schoolchildren comprise primary and secondary schoolchildren and while new artistes normally have a flawed startup video, it’s not the case with the Plumtree kids who do not look like novices with the composure and performance of old timers. One can call it a peculiar way of coming up, as it is rare to score the help of a top-notch artiste at one’s early stages of being in the dog-eat-dog arts industry.
“These kids reminded me of the young Mzoe 7 who never got the opportunity to work with household names at that age” said Mzoe.
The track earned the touch of DJ Skaiva who produced the song and the video notched the artistic work of La Dee, the happiness bang maker, she was also coming from Harare’s Flexi launch but decided to support the project.
“The collaboration continues to amaze and astound us, as it has surpassed 300 000 views on YouTube in a space of days. Handy and DJ Yugoe (Plumtree’s promoters) have been promoting the Plumtree kids group and helping them in chasing their dream, which is really rare these days and that earned my respect in different ways,” said Mzoe 7.
Mzoe 7 said the project taught him a lot about how important it was to work together and promote each other in the music business.
