HARARE - Not even the chaos in the run-up to their joint concert on Friday at Dandaro Inn could stop Afro-fusion stars Mokoomba and MicInity from delivering spellbinding performances.
Until the very last day, the concert had appeared in doubt with Mokoomba, who have just returned from a tour of Canada and the United States of America, revealing earlier in the week that the show had been arranged without their permission.
“We have just returned from an international tour and in keeping with normal practice the boys have gone to be with their families. We will advise when we will resume shows,” Mokoomba manager Marcus Gora told the Daily News early this week.
But after pleas from Dandaro Inn management, Mokoomba bravely agreed to do the concert even though only three of the six-member group were available. Absent on Friday night were Trustworth Samende (lead guitar), Donald Moyo (keyboards) and Miti Mugande (percussion).
The onerous task of representing the internationally-respected Victoria Falls group at Dandaro was therefore thrust on the shoulders of lead singer Mathias Muzaza, bassist Abundance Mutori and drummer Ndaba Coster Moyo who were forced to rope in multi-talented instrumentalist Raymond Mupfumira to play the keyboards.
Despite the obvious handicap, Mokoomba did enough to impress the initially sceptical crowd even though the majority of them could not understand the Tonga lyrics. Spurred on by the magical vocals of lead singer Muzaza, the band by the end of their slot won the hearts of the animated crowd.
Bassist Mutori was a relieved man after the concert.
“We are happy that we managed to make the fans happy even though we didn’t have many key members of the band. We will hopefully play here again with the whole band,” he said.
After Mokoomba’s well-received show, the stage was set for Zimbabwean reggae star MicInity.
The reggae artiste delivered the fireworks he had promised the Daily News on Thursday. The Marondera-born artiste, who was backed by his hometown band, the House of Stone, put up a performance full of energy, variety and class.
After performing a few of his own songs including Freedom, the reggae star unleashed a packed playlist teeming with “old school lovers” rock reggae and hot dancehall covers.
“My fans are happy with my performances and on Wednesday I am determined to give another great concert at Misty’s on Wednesday,” said MicInity.