Dherira heads to Mzansi

Dherira heads to Mzansi

By Munashe Rungano

Fast rising contemporary musician Andrew Ngwenya – or simply Andy Muridzo will on Saturday perform in South Africa at the Ekurhuleni Boksburg Hotel.

The show, which is Muridzo’s first international assignment, will also feature Selmor Mutukudzi.

The Uzumba born singer is currently enjoying a purple patch, with his hit song Dherira – from his second album Ngarizhambe – doing quite well on the local charts.

Muridzo who is yet to shrug the off ‘Jah Prayzah copy cat tag’ will be out in full force to prove that he is a man of his own although he gives all credit to the latter for mentoring and helping him kick-start his musical journey.

In a telephone interview with the Showbiz Muridzo’s manager Norman Nyaunga said they were looking forward to the show as it pegged their entrance into the regional limelight a thing they having been working hard towards.

“This is our first ever show outside Zimbabwe so we are going to give our best performance to our fans in South Africa. You can imagine how it feels getting such an opportunity to take our act across the border considering we are just a young band in the music industry,” said Nyaunga

He said that Muridzo will be travelling with his full 10 member band to enhance the performance and also added that sharing the stage with Selmor would bolster their act owing to her experience.

“The joint regional tour of duty with Selmor cements a number of projects which we are engaged in together. Fans must also expect a duet performance by the two artistes on their recorded collaboration Ndiperekedze Mukoma,” he said

Nyaunga said sheer determination and hard work had kept them afloat in the fast paced and competitive music industry as they struggled to get an international breakthrough.

“It’s only after our last album that we have started to get a lot of recognition from as far as UK. We have a number of tours lined up this year and this we credit much to the success of our last release. Our brand and market have expanded,” he said

It’s yet to be seen if the Dherira singer is going to live a mark in Mzansi come Saturday at the giant Boksburg venue which saw its last show packed to the rafters as it hosted superstar Oliver Mutukudzi and sungura ace Alick Macheso.

Show organiser Donald Nikisi said they had decided to bring Muridzo to South Africa as he was doing well on the music market and also after getting requests by fans.

“It is mainly by public demand that we have organised this event so fans must come in their numbers and support our upcoming musicians. We just did a revamp on the venue and security will be tight,” he said

Muridzo has two albums to his name. With the first one Pakubuda kwezuva not making much of an impact it is his last release Ngarizhambe which has caused a stir on the showbiz scene.

Since his arrival on the scene Muridzo and his Jeetaz band have been compared to Jah Prayzah and his 3rd Generation band.

The comparison has also been made inevitable by his naming of his outfit as ‘officers’ where Jah Prayzah calls his band ‘masoja’ (soldiers).