Contemporary musician Braveman “Baba Harare” Chizvino has defended the inclusion of Zanu PF loyalist musician Chief Hwenje Shumba of the ED Pfee fame on the list of supporting acts that will perform at the launch of his latest 10-track album titled Ramba Wakadzvanya on Friday.
By Kennedy Nyavaya
The official release of his second solo project, produced by Maselo, Oskid and Tman, will take place at Foodnest Restaurant in Harare where Peter Moyo and newcomers Audinence as well as Samanyanga will share the stage.
Shumba is famed for political songs endorsing President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s leadership and party.
Speaking to The Standard Style on Friday, Baba Harare said the Zvishavane-based Shumba had requested to perform and had been included with a condition that he does not sing his partisan songs during the launch.
“He has other songs which are not political at all and as an apolitical person, I have accommodated everyone who wants to be part of my album launch. He is the one who asked to be part of the line-up, so we could not sideline him,” said Baba Harare.
Recently, Shumba released a song that appeared to be responding to famous Zimdancehall singer Winky D’s Kasong Kejecha track, which apparently resulted in the latter aborting a Kwekwe show when political assailants threw missiles onto the stage late last month.
As a precaution, Baba Harare said they had advised the singer to desist from political songs.
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“There is no way he [Shumba] will sing politics at my album launch and we have made that clear to him,” he said.
Meanwhile, Baba Harare, who leads The City Vibration band, said his followers should look forward to a better album this year.
Many will be on the lookout for a project in the mould of The Reason Why, a chart-topping mega-hit which propelled him into a household name last year, which is a jiti-inspired piece of work.
“The jiti sound is here to stay, that is why the title track [Ramba Wakadzvanya] has a jiti feel and that has been my trend if you look back at all my other projects,” he said.
