Afro-Pop queen set for return

“I am so pumped up. You have no idea how eager I am to give my fans what they have been longing for. I can’t wait for December 2012 because that is when I will stage my first shows at home. I want an all night show in Bulawayo on the 23rd and 24th of December, then I will also arrange for the same show in Harare,” said Wesa.

Born in Bulawayo, Wesa was a dancer, choreographer, actress, singer and producer in her native home before moving to Portland, Oregon in December 2002. She was first exposed to the traditional music and dance of her country as a small child watching her mother, aunt and grandmother who were Sangomas.

In 1989, while still in secondary school, Loveness Wesa joined the Amakhosi Theatre in Bulawayo where she studied music, dance, acting, choreographing, script writing and stage design with the leading artist of Zimbabwe as well as visiting artists from Ghana, Burkina Faso, Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, United States, United Kingdom and Jamaica.

She performed in many of Amakhosi's best known plays, appearing on national television and touring Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique. She has performed for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Edward of the United Kingdom and Presidents Mbeki of South Africa and Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

In 1998, Loveness founded the Kgotso African Dance Theatre as a vehicle for bringing works by women artists to Zimbabwe's stage. She choreographed Kgotso's first production, Chakwatu. In 2001, Wesa became her country's first woman theatrical producer when she brought her dance drama Brooms to Amakhosi.

Though the dances are African, and the lyrics of songs and chants are in their original languages, she tells her stories entirely through dance and music, making them comprehensible to any audience.

She has five albums to her name: Tovera, Mukadzi wamambo, Mvura, Brooms and Ndada.