Zahara and fellow ladies of guitar deliver a show to remember

16 February 2020 - 13:42
By Patience Bambalele
FILE IMAGE: Singer-songwriter Zahara.
Image: MARK ANDREWS FILE IMAGE: Singer-songwriter Zahara.

Music stars Zahara, Msaki and Berita strummed their way to the hearts of music lovers with their guitars at the Emperors Palace, Kempton Park, on Saturday night.

In spite of  some sound technical glitches in the Theatre of Marcellus,  the trio of guitarists gave a splendid performances, leaving music lovers asking for more.  The night of fun started out on a high note with Zimbabwean-born Afro-soul singer Berita warming up the stage and gearing up the music lovers for a serious entertainment.

She proved to be  a crowd pleaser as she delivered one of her greatest live show.

Berita was followed on stage Msaki, who is among leading composers in South Africa today. Msaki wasted no time to shake consciouses as she began her set with a song  that addresses gender-based violence against LGBTI+ community and women. Her angelic voice and composure lends her music the quality of healing, thought-provoking and hope.

Msaki showed off her vocal flexibility as went a variety of song types, via titles such as the soulful Liwa Lentliziyo and dance-floor hit Fetch Your Life among others.

She ended her set with her famous hit Imfama Ziyobona, one of the germs  contained in her  album Zaneliza: How the Water Moves.

Msaki told the audience that her performance was in honou of her home girl  Zahara.

“I love Zahara. I love how she has taken the guitar to another level. We had women who played the guitar in South Africa but Zahara just took it to the forefront,” Msaki said.

“She inspired many young musicians. I connected mostly to the story of her first album uLoliwe which was very honest and very sincere. Kids in my village in Gqamakhwe knew that there was this beautiful girl, who tell stories that sounded like something they were going through. I just want to honour her tonight.”

As if fuelled by the praises of a fellow music star, multi-award winning Zahara closed the night with a powerful performance.

Zahara, who wore a white dress and welcomed on stage with roaring applause, kicked off her performance with a well-loved church hymn Lizalis’ idinga Lakho which was written by Tiyo Soga, a multi-talented intellectual, journalist and composer who died in 1871 .

She went through big hits like Loliwe and Mgodi , while also pleasing the audience with a traditional dance called umxhenso.

Overall it was a show to remember for the capacity crowd in the theatre.