Winky D preaches unity

Standard People
Local dancehall chanter, Winky D is on a mission to preach unity among musicians.

Local dancehall chanter, Winky D is on a mission to preach unity among musicians.

By WINSTONE ANTONIO

After releasing Mafirakureva, a scathing attack on drug abuse that earned him a hypocrite tag from the dancehall fraternity, Winky D wants divisions to be a thing of the past.

At a recent show at 7 Arts Theatre, Avondale, the singer appealed to artists to come together.

“As 2013 comes to an end, in 2014 we want to see unity among the artists. Let the unity also spread to the fans,” said Winky D.

“Politics is where you only come to vote for people but not in music. Let’s support each and every artist without looking at the genre.” He then went on to introduce a new song Mafeelings Pamangoma which urges musicians to stop taking offence from other musicians’ message. Ironically, one of the performers at the same show was his bitter rival Sniper Storm.

The two artists had a fallout in 2012 at the Mavado show, breaking the fans into two rival camps.

Sniper Storm himself has even dissed Winky D in some of his songs, like the one titled Haasi Mwari.

In the song, Sniper sings Haasi Mwari mhani uyu munomutyei, apparently urging fans and fellow musicians to stop treating Winky D as if he is God.

From the start of Winky D’s music career, violence has been one of the dominant themes in his songs.

But, Jonathan Banda, Winky D’s manager told The Standard the musician was simply telling the ghetto story which nobody was talking about. “In the song Mafeelings Pamangoma, we are saying music is for the people and artistes must know that they sing for the audiences,” he said.

“It appears artistes have lost the main objective of putting the audience first when they compose their songs but they are using music as a vehicle to address personal agendas.”