Tuku and Chiwoniso thrill Fans

Chi and Tuku

Harare music fans got an early Christmas present when they were treated to a memorable show featuring diminutive mbira queen Chiwoniso Maraire and prolific guitarist and singer Oliver Mtukudzi on Saturday night. The show, undoubtedly one of the best local gigs to date, proved to be a soulful, jazzy, cheerful, and funky affair, where both musicians gave inspiring and energetic performances to a cosmopolitan crowd that was drawn together by its love for good music.

And good music it was, and pleasantly so, to hundreds of fans, who thronged the 7 Arts Theatre to see the two artistes sharing the stage in Zimbabwe in a long time, although they rubbed shoulders last month at the Zim-Za Music Festival, held in Johannesburg. Both artistes proved that despite their different genres they could still enthuse and create a bond among their fans, through music. First to go on stage was Chiwoniso, who opened the show, with a soulful and popular ballad, Ivai Nesu.

The feisty artist went through her paces, intermittently punctuating her songs with gracefully-but-short dances, while she concentrated on her dexterous mbira-playing. Throughout her show, Chiwoniso moved easily and eloquently between English and Shona, and the fans, who appeared mesmerised with her performance and were the least unperturbed with her constant switch of languages. During her performance, Chiwoniso revealed that she was recovering from a bout of typhoid, which left her weak and unable to work for days.

"For four days, I was lying in bed, sick like a dog and feeling very weak. I only started to move, only two days ago. Please for now, don't drink tape water, do whatever you can to sanitise it," she said, before signing off with the song Matsotsi. When Tuku got on stage, he wasted no time with salutations, and he immediately got down to the business of the day. No matter how many times, you may have seen Tuku playing, his performances are always joyous, refreshing and quite engaging.

His spirited efforts to connect with the fans come out clearly when he calls out his Ya Ya Yah slogan, which is usually met by a rapturous response from the auditorium - and the response from the weekend show was no exception. It was a few minutes before midnight when he sang his signing off tune, Ndasakura Ndapedza, which was met by groans of disappointment from the fans, who felt that his performance had been short.

"Oh come on! The guy can't go away after performing for just one and half hours after we have paid 30 bucks to watch his performance!" a fan shouted. (Herald)