Macheso and Orchestra Mberikwazvo, currently on a two-week tour in Australia, will now finish off at another venue in Melbourne today (March 2). The Melbourne leg of the tour had been planned to finish on Saturday.Macheso’s manager William Tandukwa, in an interview from Brisbane, said the sungura maestro had performed at sold-out shows at the Roxy Hotel in Sydney and at the Chi Bar Lounge in Brisbane.The fans were ecstatic and Macheso’s performance was electrifying, he said.Tickets have also sold out for two dates at venues in Adelaide and Melbourne, he added.Macheso’s latest album, Ndezhase-eh, has debuted in the Zimbabwe Top 5, and spawned the chart-topping Changetai.Born in 1968, Macheso cut his teeth in local bands. He honed his bass-playing skills and distinctive sungura beat with bands such as the Khiama Boys. He then went on to put together today’s eight-member band.Although his first two albums were not phenomenal successes, his third, Simbaradzo, proved to be a gold mine, selling 350,000 copies and breaking Zimbabwean records for album sales. Macheso and his band will be flying back to Zimbabwe on March 5. He has never looked back since then and his trademark bass-strumming technique, along with his slomo’, razor wire’ and chikopokopo’ dances, has forced many Zimbabweans to sit up and listen.
Sexy, provocative – and ever-more popular
Dancers gyrate in the face of conventionA dancer with group Girls La Musica performs at a sold-out show at a Harare nightclub. The Harare outfit dances to contemporary Zimbabwean music in a sexually provocative way – and is among many similar groups to flirt their way to popularity in recent months. Groups like Girls La Musica, whose members wear skimpy or body-hugging outfits, and perform routines that include gyrating their waists, wiggling their hips, and thrusting their pelvis, seem to be overcoming resistance from those who feel their shows are culturally inappropriate. There are now at least 15 female dance groups in Harare alone, among them Mambokadzi, Blue Virgins, Girls of Peace and Amavithikazi