For the first time in many years, Harare’s Sports Diner was full to the brim as music fans converged at the club for a memorable concert to relive the late Tongai Moyo’s music legacy. The venue, which has been suffering poor crowds in recent times despite its history as a major spot turned out to be too small on Friday night as the club was turned into some mini-festival with some fans being turned away.
Cars jammed the area that houses Sports Diner as the concert sent revellers on their feet until early Saturday morning. The venue owners were also caught unaware by the sheer number of people who turned up and struggled to contain the numbers. The audiences wanted to see for themselves first-hand the rise of Peter Moyo, Tongai’s son who has taken over his father’s band.
“The Headmaster” Bob Nyabinde who also started his career in the Midlands city of KweKwe, just like Tongai performed on the night as did sungura musician Obvious Mutano. But it was Peter who brought the house down. Wearing his late father’s traditional colours; red shirt, white trousers and white shoes, from afar one could have mistaken Peter for his father. And he resembles his father; the looks, the height and the movement.
Coming on stage at 11pm he performed almost all of his father’s hit songs with little hitches until 3 am. Speaking after the performance Peter said he was shocked at the sheer numbers which turned up for the concert. “It was shocking as people were climbing on tables and on every space available. I had not expected so much people and I just wondered aloud: My father was big,” said Peter.
The young Dhewa said he performed close to 30 songs during the show. “We are performing these songs very well and it goes to show how far we have gone in putting together a perfect act. We have a lot of work to do but the beauty of it is that we are managing full concerts. It is not easy, especially playing before a capacity crowd like that at Sports Diner,” said Peter. Peter said the crowd was intimidating. “It was a first for me to come face to face with such a terrific audience.
We played in Gweru and Kadoma before multitudes of fans but not as many as those for today. A number of fans were actually turned away on Friday night.” Shiga Shiga, a backing vocalist who also doubles as the band’s manager, said he was at loss for words. He said even with Tongai they had in a long time not witnessed as many people turning out to a singular gig.
“Although we have not reconciled the attendance figures yet, I can safely confirm that we last had such a big crowd a long, long time ago. This goes to show that this project with Peter is for real,” said Shiga. Today, Peter performs in Rimuka, Kadoma. DAILY NEWS
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