NIGERIAN music icon D’banj (real name Dapo Daniel Oyebanjo) and Ugandan ragga musician Bebe Cool (real name Moses Ssali) will be the two international acts billed to perform at this year’s edition of the Lion Lager Summer Beer Festival.
Report by Melissa Mpofu
The annual festival will be held on October 26 at the Glamis Arena in Harare under the theme The Battle of Africa as it will feature West, East and Southern African artistes. This will be both artistes’ first time to perform in Zimbabwe. The event is organised by Delta Beverages.
The artistes who will perform with live bands are expected to jet into the country on October 24 and leave on October 28. Local artistes Winky D, Guspy Warrior, King Shaddy and DJ Rax have been lined up to share the stage with the international acts.
D’Banj, popularly known as The Kokomaster, will take over from another Nigerian group, P Square, which attracted a full house at the same event last year.
The Kokomaster is a familiar artiste to many Zimbabweans considering that some of his tracks such as Fall in love, Pop Something, Why Me, Mr Endowed, and Oliver Twist were popular in the country as they received massive airplay from local stations and rocked at night clubs.
Bebe Cool is popular in ragga and dancehall circles for his hit singles Coccidiosis, Fitina and Mambo Mingi. He has won several awards at the Pearl of Africa Music Awards (PAM Awards) and was nominated for the Kora All-African Awards in 2003 and 2005.
Delta Beverages marketing manager Patricia Murambinda said the decision to bring in the two artistes was to spoil and reward their Lion Lager drinkers and buyers for their support.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
“This year organisers did not choose the artistes, but the people of Zimbabwe voted for musicians they wanted to perform at the beer festival through a Lion Lager programme aired on local radio stations. D’banj and Bebe Cool had the highest votes so we decided to bring them to reward our loyal consumers,” she said.
She added that there would only be one festival in Harare this year as compared to other editions where they held another one in Bulawayo.
Delta Beverages has once more tasked the Harare International Festival of the Arts staff to organise the event on their behalf after they successfully organised last year’s edition.
This year will mark the fifth edition of the Beer Festival that has seen performances by Jamaica’s Beenie Man, Cocoa Tea, Fantan Mojah and P Square.
