Gringo's son coming of age

Taurai Boora

Taurai Boora, the son to the great comedian Lazarus Boora of the popular Zimbabwean omedy“Gringo”, is doing well in following in his father’s footsteps. Taurai (17) is specialising in solo dancing and stage acting and he recently did an amazing solo performance in Rusape in support of Madzibaba Zachariah’s show where he danced to kwaito, sungura and rhumba music.

On the same day, the youngster also performed with Alick Macheso on one of his popular songs, “Wemakonzo”. As they shared the stage, Taurai acted three characters in one scene, as the babamukuru, tezvara and the girl in the song.

Reproducing his father’s character in the hilarious Zimbabwean comedy, he left the crowd amused with his comic performance.After getting inspiration from his grandfather Solomon Boora, Taurai started dancing when he was only five.

“My grandfather used to sing for me a song from Papa Jose titled ‘Ndochi’ every time we had visitors so that I would dance and entertain them,” said Taurai.

This multi-talented boy was christened “Gringoldino” after his first stage performance at a Nestlé road show to promote the Maggi brand. “My father’s friend, Steward Sakarombe, gave me that stage name after a Maggi and Nestlé road show,” he added.

“On the show, I was only eight but I danced so well that the crowd kept screaming for more, thus he started calling me Gringoldino.”  Although his father wanted him to be a basketball star, Gringoldino kept insisting on following his dream. His dream is to be an entertainer and eventually form his own road show company.

Taurai told The Sunday Mail that he gets most of his inspiration from his parents. Besides his father, his mother Alice Kaweto is also into acting. She acted in the local drama called “Zuku” as Amaiguru. The Boora family is full of artistic talent. Gringoldino is the first born in a family of five and his siblings have great potential to become actors.

Taurai said:“Tonderai, the fourth child in the family, is a great comedian. He is only eight, but whenever he is around, everyone will be laughing at home. I think he is the one with great potential of becoming like dad,” he added.

There is also another dancer within the family, Tanatswa (12), who is the only girl and is very flexible. Lazarus also contributed in grooming his children to be creative and artistic. “My father used to motivate us to create story ideas and I remember this one time when we were all gathered and told to act a family drama that he had written,” said Taurai.

The young dancer went to Nhamburiko Primary School in Rusape and Brilliant College in Harare for his secondary education where he formed a drama club. “When I went to Brilliant College in 2009 their drama club had long ceased to perform,” he said. With the help of his father and others, he was able to write scripts for the club. Sundaymail