Urban groover Leonard Mapfumo joins film industry

In a move that will expand his entertainment resume, one of Zimbabwe’s urban grooves patriarchs, Leonard Mapfumo will star in an upcoming local film titled Players. The film focuses on a young person whose dream is to venture into music, but faces difficulties along the way.

Mapfumo told the Daily news that he was looking forward to the film as he has never featured in a flick before. “I have done radio plays including Mopani junction but I have never done any screen plays. This will be my debut. I never really considered acting as I thought it was not my thing, my love was in music. I have a friend, Blessing who kept encouraging me to audition then I finally did. It is still something new and I am waiting to see how it will come out,” he said.

Mapfumo said he was looking forward to exploring his acting skills which he hopes will take him places. “It is a new experience and I do not know where it will take me. We have not started shooting yet, we will start next week. I will be working with seasoned actors including some from Tiriparwendo, Think and other local films,” said Mapfumo.

The film is being produced by John Ruben Films in association with Tasimba Productions. It was written by John Rubeni. “The film features a music story that revolves in a ghetto. It will be shot mainly in Highfield high density area in Harare. I will play the lead character who believes he can make it into the music scene even though he has financial constraints."

“He is misled in a way as he comes from the ghetto and his peers convince him that he has to make money by any means necessary. This leads him to crime and he gets arrested." “At the same time he impregnates his girlfriend, he is overwhelmed and does not know what to do, which makes him turn to God for help. I am not sure about how it will end as there are two endings and they have not decided on the ending,” said Mapfumo.

Mapfumo’s fans will have more to look forward to as he will drop his fourth album in September. “I am releasing an album in september as I want to give two year periods for people to appreciate my music. My last release was in 2010."

“This new one will carry 10 tracks and I will feature a South African artiste. We will announce who it is in due course as we are still rounding up some things." “On the album I am working with Mcdee, Lazzy Tee and another guy from the United States called Jay. Local artistes who I am featuring include Roki, Otis Ngwabi, Rute and others."

“It will be my fourth album,” he said. Mapfumo is among the first breed of urban groovers and he made his mark with the song Seiko on which he featured Roki. From there he produced other hits including Maidei, Two Chete, Shevedza, Ndiwe, Miss Makadii and others. He co-owns Heshi Mfeshi studio with producer, Joe Machingura.  Newsday