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Jah Prayzah advises artistes to use live instruments

Life & Style
UPCOMING contemporary musician Mukudzei Mukombe, aka Jah Prayzah, has urged urban groovers to start playing live instruments at their performances.

UPCOMING contemporary musician Mukudzei Mukombe, aka Jah Prayzah, has urged urban groovers to start playing live instruments at their performances.

Report by Silence Charumbira

Jah Prayzah was speaking after his debut United Kingdom tour. He was supported by Enoch Guni, aka Nox, at the show held two weeks ago.

The tour was the first foreign performance for the young artiste who has grown to become a force to reckon with on the local scene.

“People who attend shows are thrilled by the guitar and other instruments and playing backtracks is not advisable,” he said.

“Anyone who has performed in or for Zimbabweans will agree with me that you often feel out of place when you get to the stage (without instruments).

“In our case we performed with Nox, who has been to UK before, but it was a different game altogether because for once revellers were witnessing a live Zimbabwean band for a change.”

Nox last week said: “Playing live music is the way to go and any serious artist needs to have a live band for live performances, but it does not come cheap. One needs serious capital injections though one will reap the fruits in the long run.”

A radio personality Belinda Magejo Matemera also echoed the same sentiments and said backtracks make a performer look ordinary. “Playing with CDs is just out of fashion and people do not like it anymore,” said Matemera.

Another UK-based Zimbabwean who identified himself as Kudakwashe said: “I think Nox needs to take a break from England. It will make him a joke of an artist right now because it is all about Jah Prayzah after his thrilling performance.”

Jah Prayzah expressed satisfaction with the tour, but said artists who perform in UK should just go and be real.

“The majority of the people that throng the venues are the same as people that come to our shows in Zimbabwe,” he said.

“Maybe for me it was different, but it was quite an experience to hear the audience singing along.”

He performed in London Coventry and Manchester.

The artist said they were arranging another tour to the UK next year in April, while the same promoter Steady Munyanyi was organising another tour of South Africa in December.