THE Harare International Festival of Arts (Hifa) ended on a high note on Sunday with a splendid performance by the Afro-fusion group Mokoomba at the Telecel main stage. Huge crowds attended the closing show.
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Mokoomba opened the show with the track Mvula off their latest offering, The Rising Tide which has won several international awards. Nimukonda with its reggae instrumentation drove the crowd into frenzy with the band chanting “Patwa” to the jumping audiences.
The Victoria Falls group, which has toured over 30 countries ,proved that music was more than just loud instrumentation when they took it upon themselves to sing a Ndebele a cappella song which mesmerised the audience.
The track Njoka received a great response from the audience as the lead and bass guitarists engaged in the Samba dances.
The crux of their performance was when the group introduced themselves displaying various talents on vocals and instruments before the lead singer Mathias Muzaza went on to mimic superstar Oliver Mtukudzi’s voice in his song Chirimupoto which saw revellers dancing wild and sing along.
Baaba Maal then joined them on stage in a collaboration of Masango and they proved to the multitudes of fans why they were the best touring Zimbabwean group.
A beautifully enticing fireworks display set alight Harare Gardens just before the end of Mokoomba show to officially mark the end of Hifa 2013.
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But, Hifa was not over yet as there were two more shows lined up in the Coca-Cola Green with a live performance by Donald Chirisa aka Sniper and a combined show of Judgment Yard and Legendary Sound.
Sniper pulled a top draw performance clad in a red suit as he belted songs like Love YeMusoja, Kubhinya and Mwari Ndibatsireyi among other songs with backing from the House of Stones band.
“This is my first time performing here at Hifa and I want to thank the organisers for giving me this chance,” Sniper said.
Two of the Zimbabwe’s popular sound groups — Judgment Yard and Legendary Sound — put the icing on the cake by giving a spellbinding show to close Hifa 2013 in style. The two MCs Etherton Beenie (Judgement Yard) and Smylie (Legendary Sound) were energetic and cracked humorous jokes during their performance.
Earlier in the day scores of people witnessed yet another long-awaited show by Rocki and his former Big Brother Amplified Housemate from Zambia, Mampi which Rocki certainly rocked compared to Mampi’s performance.
