Zahara had faith in me: Munetsi

Zahara and George Munetsi

As South Africans ululated at the achievements of Afro-Jazz sensation, Zahara, who scooped eight accolades at the South African Music Awards, little did Zimbabweans know that they had also had cause to celebrate.

 Among the awards that debutante Zahara won was in the “Best Collaboration” category for the bi-lingual song “Incwad’Encane”, in which she featured former Radio 3 Disc Jockey, George Munetsi. Enjoy the song below:

“Interest in music began when I was back in primary school, where I used to have a co-tenant who would call me to sing for him when he was playing his guitar,” said the Kaya FM presenter in an recent interview. Before his award-winning collaboration with Zahara, Munetsi recorded the song “Black soldier /hondo yechimurenga” with South African band Uju.

“My station was the only one playing it and it was never really made widely commercially available. It did strike a chord with some people and they still ask me about it. It was not your usual Afro-pop, but was more of a Zimbabwean Chimurenga vibe, which is not that well known here.”

Riding on his new fame, he hopes to re-release the song on his upcoming solo album. “I met Zahara when she was performing at a show where I was booked to be a master of ceremony. I invited her over for an interview on my radio show the next day and during the interview, I asked her if she would consider featuring me on her album when she goes into studio to record and she agreed.

True to her word, eight months later, she called me to the studio and the rest, as they say, is history. In fact, history was made.” Having composed the whole song herself, Zahara asked Munetsi to add the Zim/Shona aspects, resulting in him writing the Shona verse.