BRAVEMAN Chizvino, popularly known as Baba Harare and The City Vibration band, put up a polished performance over the weekend at the Palace Hotel in Bulawayo.
Bulawayo is the arts capital of Zimbabwe, but it is also notorious for shunning musicians who think they have made it and expect fans to show up at their shows.
However, Baba Harare and his band underlined their growing popularity. By 10 pm, the Palace Hotel was packed with revellers looking to drink and dance the night away.
Baba Harare came on stage at exactly 11 pm, and the crowd went into a frenzy as he put up an energetic performance from the word go.
He sampled “hanzi haubvire mumadress,” a song he collaborated with Jah Prayzah, which was well received by the sold-out crowd.
His 2017 hit song “The Reason Why”, which catapulted him to stardom, proved that it is still the favourite of many as everyone sang and danced along during his high-octane performance.
The biggest cheer for the night went to the song “Ramba Wakadzvanya”. You have to give it to Baba Harare for knowing how to involve the audience, which livened up the Palace gardens.
In his true jiti style, he called both men and women to come on stage and show off their dancing skills.
With the slick moves of those who danced on stage, one would have thought they were auditioning to become members of The City Vibration Band.
It cannot be a Baba Harare show if he does not sing one or two renditions.
He sang Lucky Dube’s “I am a Prisoner and Remember Me. Judging by the smiles on people’s faces, both songs seemed to take the audience back to a time and place which brought so many memories.
After that, he sang two more songs, and everyone could go home and sleep peacefully, knowing that the Harare City father had left the City of Kings and Queens with his reputation intact after another scintillating live performance.
