Winky D steals show at Movado Concert

Bigman Winky D

JAMAICAN dancehall star Mavado was last Friday upstaged by Winky D before a full house at the Harare International Conference Centre. Mavado, whose real name is David Brooks, delivered a rather subdued performance because he was using backtracks, while Winky D now lovingly referred to as the "Ninja president" by his legion of fans had a live band.

From the outset, Winky D's high-energy whipped fans into a frenzy as he belted out tune after tune.

Throughout his act, Winky D had the over 5 000 crowd on its feet and received rapturous cheers whenever he finished a track. This, however, did not go down well with not only Sniper, another artiste who was part of the bill, but also Mavado's manager who felt Winky D had literally stolen the show from the main act.

In a fit of rage, Sniper (Donald Chirisa) lurched onto the stage towards the end of Winky D's set and grabbed the microphone from him.

"Mupfana uyu amisa vanhu vese. Ikozvino Mavado akamira backstage for more than 30 minutes, (your time is up everyone including Mavado is waiting backstage), get off the stage now, I'm the general here," he shouted before the promoter of the gig Clint Robinson of C&A Entertainment intervened.

Incensed by Sniper's move, the crowd went haywire and chaos broke out with some of them throwing missiles from all corners of the auditorium.

But the "Ninja president" stood aloof before he was whisked away by bouncers. The moment most dancehall fans were waiting for came as Mavado took to the stage after Winky D's exhilarating performance. The so-called "Gully Gaad" made a grand entrance while the overly excited Dj cheered on the crowd.

Lyrically, Mavado enchanted the crowd but performance wise, his act left a lot to be desired. If promoters want to cut costs, one way of doing it without compromising quality is to assemble a band made up of Zimbabwe's sought after session musicians to back the foreign artistes. If Clint had done this, Mavado could have delivered a good show. There, however, was a beautiful crowd with both men and women dressed up for the show. (Herald)