HARARE - Not even the rains nor the rather pricey admission charge could dampen the launch of Jah Prayzah’s fifth album Kumbumura Mhute at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC) on Wednesday night.
After the downpour that hit Harare a few hours before the event, organisers feared that music fans would stay away but they had underestimated Jah Prayzah’s new allure.
Though the 5000-seater venue was very far from full, music fans — who included several government ministers and fellow musicians — came in their hundreds to grace the Uzumba-born musician’s biggest album launch to date.
True to the fans’ high expectations, Jah Prayzah, whose real name is Mukudzei Mukombe, did not disappoint.
After some scintillating duets with Ammara Brown, Suluman Chimbetu and Botswana’s diva Magdeline Lesolebe, who is popularly known as Charma Gal, Jah Prayzah literally brought the house down with a performance full of energy, aplomb and impressive choreography
In a rip-roaring performance that featured a talented dancing group called Dynamic Arts, Jah Prayzah opened his act with Kumaricho a song that roused Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs minister Simbaneuta Mudarikwa into showcasing adept moves on the dance floor.
Though Jah Prayzah’s collaborations with Sulu on Sean Timba and Charma Gal on Dalie Wangu drew wild applause from the passionate crowd, the highlight of the night was when he performed the potential hit Makanika a song about a Nigerian man who is reluctant to return to his homeland after falling in love with a Zimbabwean woman.
The Tsviriyo singer’s mastery of Nigerian lingo and accent impressed the crowd that also included music superstar Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, Tourism minister Walter Mzembi and Lands and Resettlement Deputy minister Tendai Savanhu.
It was a special night on which major general Trust Mugova, who was standing in for Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) commander general Constantine Chiwenga announced plans to make Jah Prayzah a ZDF ambassador.
Efforts to verify if the reported $3 000 bid during the auction of Jah Prayzah’s album was genuine proved fruitless as the bidder preferred to remain annonymous. Interestingly, businessman Philip Chiyangwa who made a ‘fake’ $12 000 bid for Jah Prayzah’s fourth album was not involved this time around. Jah Prayzah’s uncle Savanhu, who reportedly still has not fulfilled the pledge he made last year to buy a musical kit for the musician, also did not make any bid.