Squabbles in Jah Prayzah band

Fire burning in the band - Jah Prayzah

Rising reggae artist Mukudzei Mukombe, popularly known as Jah Prayzah, was left with egg on face on Sunday when his band refused to go on stage with him during a family show at the Harare Gardens. Band members accused the musician of overworking them and complained of poor remuneration.

Jah Prayzah was supposed to go on stage at around 3pm, but his band only arrived after 4pm. They remained seated in the commuter omnibus that brought them to the venue until the stage manager Mabla Kurima went on stage to reprimand them.

“Jah Prayzah guys’ come on stage you are taking people for granted,” Kurima shouted. It took almost an hour for the group to settle the dispute forcing their engineers to play various songs by late musician Simon Chimbetu before they finally went on stage at around 5pm.

But most fans had lost interest by that time, as they started calling on dendera musician, Sulumani Chimbetu to come on stage. Mabla confirmed there were problems in Jah Prayzah’s band, but accused some individuals of causing the rift.

“Yes, we had problems before getting on stage and unfortunately there are some individuals who are becoming big headed in the band,” he said. However, Filda Muchauraya, Jah Prayzah’s band manager sang a different tune blaming the mix-up on the poor sound system.

“I think they were refusing to come and perform because of the poor sound system and it has nothing to do with their remuneration, because we are paying them well,” Muchauraya said. Speaking to NewsDay on the sidelines of the show, one band member who refused to be named, said they were being overworked by the musician.

He claimed Jah Prayzah was in the habit of changing cars, but failed to pay his band well. The show only came to life when Sulumani Chimbetu went on stage at 6pm and belted some of his new songs. Newsday