ORGANISERS of the Koffi Olomide concert, Blaze Productions, have defended their decision to exclude local rhumba musicians from the show that is slated for August 3 at the Harare International Conference Centre, saying they wanted to bring variety to revellers.
BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO
This comes after complaints from rhumba music lovers who felt cheated without names like Juntal, Diamond Musica and BV Labien on the list of local acts set to share the stage with Olomide.
Sound Blaze Productions operations manager Calisto Murawo told NewsDay Life & Style that their selection was meant to also attract fans not necessarily sold out to Rhumba.
He also indicated that Juntal recently shared the stage with Fally Poupa.
“We never said it was a rhumba show. That’s what artistes and fans must understand. Our selection was based on nothing much, but we were simply thinking of a concert that caters for fans across music genres. I am sorry for those who feel they were left out,” Murawo said.
“We just had Fally Poupa recently and he was supported by these small rhumba groups. We thought fans won’t appreciate repetition so we wanted to give them something totally different. We have nothing against Juntal; he is actually a good artiste and I am one of his fans.”
Murawo said everything was on track for the show and the lined up artistes were keen to take to the stage.
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Juntal’s manager, Luckmore Kambadza, said he was not disturbed by the concert organisers’ failure to recognise his artiste.
“To us, it’s not really a problem, but looking at what fans are saying, organisers should at least have chosen one or two local rhumba artistes,” he said.
Olomide, who last performed at the Harare International Carnival in 2015, will share the stage with dancehall singers Winky D, Jah Signal and sungura maestro Alick Macheso.
