Thursday night’s Shoko Festival Mash-Up at Moto Republik adds to a series of perfectly executed fusions of different genres.
The juxtaposition of traditional sounds like mbira music, sungura and hip hop portrayed the arts as eclectic in nature.
That is basically what Shoko Festival intends. The message clearly read in bold that despite variations in demographics or geography art never fail to pour into one river. This was a display of artists from as far yet so near neighbouring Mozambique, the entourage from Bulawayo and of course the local Harare based.
We arrived to a M.U.S.E’s performance which amplified the rise in the momentum of the festival. He was later joined by Zimbiyana Jones of the Mc Chita fame. One thing that the crowd appreciated was the flow of their rap.
Mbira music invaded the stage with Lang glowing and floating in that soulful almost spiritual realm of traditional music.
Noble Stylz and M. Biller emphatically complemented the deep singing with verses in between the set. Rozalia from Mozambique got the chance to represent how singing is done on the shores of the ocean and she couldn’t have asked for more as the crowd swerved to her melody.
Thereafter, the show would bounce more hip hop with Luminous on stage. The Bulawayo-based artist is solidly a man to watch. His presence on the stage was welcomed by hip-hop heads who sang along to his newly released album. The delivery was on point raising the bar a little too high for the next performer.
However, it would not be a hurdle for the man of the moment Voltz JT. With his album launching today the Mash-Up presented him with a good stage to prepare for his most significant career moment.
He churned popular hits like Friends, Shamwari Yangu and These Days before teasing the fans with a verse from Life of Muvhimi – this came as a result of electricity suddenly switching off and fans demanding an acapella.
Uncle Sam followed up to again divert the night’s set with his lead guitar as people from different walks of life continued to appreciate this genre as the parent of the Zimbabwean popular sound.
The event successfully delivered a mash-up that entered the many rooms of art.
Different colours, language, background, inspiration and circumstances but one People!
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