Poor attendance at Mutodi’s concert

Energy Mutodi

Musician Energy Mutodi and his Mutodi Stars got the baptism of fire when they performed before a handful of people at his Holly’s Hotel showcase on Friday night. The concert, which was set to be a highlight for the weekend, turned out to be a nightmare for the flamboyant businessman-cum-musician.

Up until 11pm, the venue was virtually empty and in counting, less than 30 people were in attendance when the concert kicked off in what proved to be a big yawn. The flop was indeed a humbling experience for Mutodi who seems to have ambitions to reach greater heights.

One might have been forgiven to think that it was a rehearsal session. At the end of the concert Mutodi Stars band constituted a large number of people compared to the number of fans.

One of Mutodi’s fans said Mutodi has started on a good note as this is what usually happened with new artists.“The crowds should not discourage him because this is what happens to beginners. Check what happened when Suluman pulled off from Allan Chimbetu’s band. Sulu at first performed before small crowds but now he is among the big five musicians in the country,” said the fan. 

There has been hype surrounding Mutodi’s entrance in the showbiz circuit with the musician recruiting 19 members that includes nine dancers. But it seems audiences have not forgiven Mutodi for snatching four band members from Peter “Igwe” Moyo, virtually disrupting the young sungura musician’s musical project.

Contrary to what was witnessed on Friday, the past weekend saw Peter Moyo and Tryson Chimbetu performing at the same venue and filling it to capacity. During the Friday concert Mutodi performed with two different bands, one rhumba and the other for sungura.

Former Utakataka stars Gift Katulika aka Shiga Shiga and Spencer “The Bolt-cutter” Khumbulani who were part of Mutodi Stars failed to draw the crowds. On the gate some people were turned away because of the five dollars entrance fee which they felt was too high for the upcoming rhumba-sungura artiste.

“Five dollars for Mutodi concert to me is too high, if it was Alick Macheso or Suluman Chimbetu, I think it was fair,” said an unidentified fan outside the concert hall. The Chigorodanda hitmaker took to the stage at around 2300hrs and sang hit songs such as Chigorodanda, Pershie and Ruvimbo among others before he switched to sungura songs.

Speaking to the Daily News Shiga who is Mutodi Stars band manager said they failed to command a large crowd owing to a number of concerts that were being held in the town during that night. “I think it is because Macheso is performing at a nearby venue, actually he is at Galactica,” said Shiga. 

Galactica is a sports bar found along Chiremba Road in Harare, a few kilometres away from the city centre where Mutodi was performing. The dendera musician Tryson Chimbetu was also performing a stone’s throw (at Super Label Sports Bar in the capital) from where Mutodi was performing.

Despite the poor response, Mutodi’s dancing queens were a marvel to watch as they shook what their mothers gave them.Shiga tried his best to keep the fans morale high with his chants. The talented guitarists Khumbulani and Innocent Mjintu proved themselves that they are still up to the task. Culled from Dailynews