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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
TWO music videos from three local music stars were released earlier this week on YouTube.

The videos — Jah Prayzah’s high budget Mudhara Vachauya shot in South Africa and directed by Nic Roux; and ExQ and Ammara Brown’s Bhachura shot in Harare with a reasonable budget and directed by Vusumuzi “Blaqs” Hlatshwayo, have been the subject of debate on social media.

Nic Roux is the man behind Diamond Platnumz and P Square’s video Kidogo, Don Jazzy’s Dorrobucci and Jah Prayzah’s blockbuster Watora Mari while Blaqs has produced Thabbz ft Cal_Vin’s video Bona and Godobori by House Rebels.

Mudhara Vachauya (Your husband will return) video tells the story of a husband (Jah Prayzah) assuring his wife (played by a SA model Palesa) that he will return. He assures her not to worry after the two are separated when the man, a soldier, has to go to work (war).

The imaginary town with bright coloured buildings where he leaves his wife evokes emotions of love, happiness and depicts life while the bush with its dreary colours, brings out death and suffering.

While he is away, Jah Prayzah seems to know that people have tried and continue trying their luck on his wife, who spurns their every move.

At the end of the video, Jah Prayzah returns home safely to the warm, loving arms of his wife.

However, Jah Prayzah seems to have tried too hard to come up with a quality video and lost the plot as the music video is missing “that thing”, as SA Idols judge Somizi would say.

ExQ’s video on the other hand is seamless, the Bhachura (Bachelor) visuals go along with the lyrics of the song. The video is about the pain that couples go through because of infidelity to the point of breaking up or wanting to.

ExQ is shown in a house doing his own ironing, cooking and sleeping alone, a life he would rather lead than having a woman who would stress him.

His on-screen girlfriend Ammara Brown seems to be flirting with too many men, something that rubs ExQ the wrong way leaving him to prefer being a bachelor. The storyline takes a twist as Ammara Brown explains why she was flirting with other men saying it was because ExQ had cheated on her.

The video ends with the two making up in studio where they are joined by producer Oskid. Before the video cuts off, ExQ goes down on his knees to apologise, stands up and attempts to kiss Ammara.

The release of the music videos is a tale of both artistes tapping into the power of social media as links of their videos have been shared on WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter for the two days they released their music videos.

Fans have been at loggerheads with some saying ExQ’s music video was way better in terms of quality than Jah Prayzah’s. Others said Jah Prayzah’s video did not bring out the storyline it tried to portray while ExQ’s seems to have done so seamlessly.

Some fans said Jah Prayzah’s music video was not as intimate as ExQ’s while others gave praise to both directors saying the  music videos were of top quality challenging other artistes to strive to achieve such quality.

ExQ’s video in some circles was deemed too simple with some questioning why forgotten group Extra Large had been roped in as they appeared for a few seconds.

Sentiments by music lovers also revealed that Jah Prayzah was abusing the soldier role. His manager, Keen Mushapaidze was however, quick to defend his artiste.

“Jah Prayzah has his identity as a soldier and we decided to ride on that. We could’ve chosen many other jobs like being a doctor and all, but being a soldier is what people know him for,” said Mushapaidze.

On YouTube, Mudhara Vachauya has garnered over 70 000 views while Bhachura had 40 000 as of yesterday, with some fans saying the only reason Jah Prayzah’s video had more was because the song was more popular. In terms of quality for some, Bhachura is way ahead of Mudhara Vachauya though it is low budget.

Jah Prayzah’s music video, according to Mushapaidze, was high budget.

“The video cost a lot, but what we’ll get back from it makes every cent spent worth it.”

ExQ’s music video producer, Blaqs, said Bhachura cost about $1 000 to produce and was shot at Oskid’s studio at ZiFM and other locations in Avondale. — @bonganinkunzi