MBARE Massive are the winners of the R17 500 prize that was up for grabs at the King of Dancehall gig on Friday night at City Sports Centre, Harare.
Winstone Antonio,Own Correspondent
The gig, which was headlined by Jamaican musician Turbulance (Sheldon Campbell), saw Seh Calaz, Kinnah and Soul Jah Love, who represented Mbare, shrugging off competition from other suburbs.
Other suburbs represented at the contest included Mabvuku, Warren Park and Budiriro, while some musicians also came from other towns like Gweru, Bindura and Kwekwe.
Despite allegations of being aided by a hired crowd, the trio appeared to have come prepared for the contest.
The gig that featured an array of more than 30 renowned and upcoming chanters was meant to be a clash between dancehall artistes representing their various suburbs, but failed to do so as several artistes shunned the organisers’ idea.
Female musicians who performed at the gig Bounty Lisa, Fire Lady, Angel Pee and Lady Squanda also put down the idea of individual clashes.
The essence of a clash was further dampened when Guspy Warrior and Ricky Fire, representing Chitungwiza, also pulled out leaving the platform only to younger musicians.
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The clash results and criteria also came under scrutiny from the fans who noted the judging was biased.
Donald Gwaze from Kambuzuma, who was in the audience said the method used was unfair.
“This judging by the fans was not fair. How can you say it was a clash yet some of the artistes from other ghettos did not perform? As you witnessed the behaviour of some of these fans clearly showed that they were from Mbare not neutral dancehall fans,” Gwaze said.
Although it could not be proven they were from Mbare, part of the crowd close to the stage appeared to throw missiles whenever artistes from other suburbs were on stage giving credence to Gwaze’s assertion.
Shinsoman and Lady B who had initially indicated they would perform at the event, pulled out at the last minute.
Meanwhile, Turbulance brought the house to its knees when he got to the stage.
Starting off with dancehall, the musician slowly shifted to conscious reggae and back to dancehall again as revellers appeared to have failed to appreciate the more mature genre. The musician went further to prove his mettle when he invited rising local artistes for a freestyle session in which he came out a winner judging from the audience’s response.
The Real Warrior singer went on stage around 2am, but despite playing without a band, he gave a top drawer performance that left revellers satisfied.
Clad in a red shirt, pair of jean trousers, red jacket, red turban (doek) and red shoes, he opened his set with the song Real Warrior known by most dancehall followers thereby winning the attention of the audience throughout his performance.
