Beres Hasmmond expected in Harare for Lion Lager Beer Festival

Leading Jamaican conscious reggae artist Beres Hammond is expected in the country on Wednesday morning ahead of the Lion Lager Summer Beer Festival to be held at the Glamis Arena in Harare on Saturday. Hammond will be coming from the United Kingdom where he staged a successful show recently.

He will be accompanied by an entourage of 18 band members including his manager Mervis Walsh. Other Jamaican artists billed to perform at the same event, Cocoa Tea and Fantan Mojah, are expected in the country on Friday afternoon from Kingston, Jamaica. They will be accompanied by Jah Band, a nine-member group that will back them.
Local acts Sulumani Chimbetu, Winky D, Mic Inity and the Transit Crew will spice up the event. DJs Witness Mathema, Smiley and Kudzie Marudza will be masters of ceremony at the event.

Another Lion Lager Summer Beer Festival will be held in Bulawayo on October 22 at Hartsfield. Hammond will not perform at the Bulawayo gig as he will leave the country on October 18 for another show in Ghana. 

Cocoa Tea and Mojah will proceed to Bulawayo and leave the country on October 24. They will be backed by Chimbetu, Chase Skuza and Jeys Marabini, Winky D and Mic Inity. 

Lion Lager brand manager Sandra Madovi said all was set for the two shows. “Preparations are currently underway with Will-Roje Enterprises starting to erect the stage at Glamis Arena. We hope by Friday morning everything will be set with artists expected to do their soundcheck on the same day,” she said. She added that their decision to bring in the Jamaican artists was reward their Lion Lager drinkers and buyers for their support.

“We decided to bring in the crew from Jamaica because of the response we got from people at last year’s beer festival. We decided to go a step forward and spoil our supporters by bringing them more Jamaican artists,” said Madovi. Madovi said the show was not about music only as there were going to be other competitions and DJ clashes on the day. Local DJs Squila, Scott, Chuckie, Vijay, and Flevah Flev will battle it out for the top honours. The winner will walk away with a Lion Lager branded laptop and a floating trophy. 

She added that they were still finalising the itinerary for the artists. This year will mark the third edition of the beer festival. Last year’s event which was held in Harare only saw Jamaica’s reggae icon, Beenie Man, performing.