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Noisettes leader to grace Hifa main stage

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UNITED KINGDOM-based Zimbabwean pop singer Shingai Shoniwa returns home from her much-awaited performance at the Harare International Festival of the Arts.

UNITED KINGDOM-based Zimbabwean pop singer Shingai Shoniwa returns home from her much-awaited performance at the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa).

Report by Silence Charumbira

Shoniwa, who was in the country earlier this year, expressed intense desire to perform in Zimbabwe after being cajoled by what she saw in her motherland.

Her Hifa show is scheduled for May 2 at Telecel Main Stage at 7pm.

Shoniwa leads The Noisettes, a group of international acclaim, but little is known of her and her talent back home.

The band has performed at some prestigious festival stages in the world and bagged numerous awards.

With a career that has stretched over seven years, the Noisettes perform a fizzy, witty mixture of all kinds of pop, with an exotic twist that has brought them well known smashes like Never Forget You and Don’t Upset the Rhythm.

Their unique command of the stage has made them festival icons from Glastonbury to the V Festival. Shoniwa and her fellow band member Dan Smith have a massive global following and their music consumes African music, jazz and new adventures in dance music to generate their own distinctive hybrid of soul music.

Her versatile vocals have been compared with Debby Harry, Kate Bush, Billie Holiday and Diana Doss. She is proud of her Zimbabwean heritage and is hugely excited to make her Hifa debut this year.

When she last came to the country she promised she would be working with various local artistes and said she would be working on an album inspired by the sounds and experiences that she has had from her homeland.

Critical response to Shoniwa’s performance has largely been positive.

She has provided backing vocals for different indie rock, electronic, and punk rock artistes including Guillemots with their song Made Up Love and Over the Stairs.

Shoniwa made an appearance on Annie Lennox’s 2007 album Songs of Mass Destruction on a track about the fight against HIV and AIDS that included 22 other renowned female artistes such as Madonna, Melissa Etheridge, Gladys Knight and Celine Dion. She is credited for vocals of Dennis Ferrer’s Hey Hey song released in November 2009. On 31 December 2009 she featured in the Annual Hootenanny 2010 show (aired by BBC), where she performed together with Jools Holland.

Her dream of performing at the grand Hifa stage comes true this year and many should be looking forward to her show.