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Nathi Mankayi

Bruce Ndlovu—
South African crooner Nathi Mankayi put up a five star performance on Saturday night at the Second Coming concert which, despite a decent and enthusiastic crowd, failed to live up to the annual Kalawa extravaganza it was named after. With the city abuzz with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) which came to an end on Saturday, the assumption was that the Second Coming would be on a similar scale.

However, those who were expecting to see the multitudes that throng the Kalawa Homecoming party were dealt a major blow as an ordinary crowd turned up to see South African performers – Nathi, Bucie, Vusi Nova, Kid X and Nomuzi Mabhena showcase their talents alongside locals Asaph, Guluva 7 and Cal_Vin.

Tellingly, the usual stampede for alcohol that is part and parcel of the Kalawa gig was not evident on Saturday, as the largely youthful crowd seemed to ignore the few selling points, some of which were also under-stocked as they ran out of some beer brands.

The night however belonged to the Nomvula hit-maker – Nathi, whose performance went a long way to showing why his album, Buyelekhaya sold platinum in South Africa within six weeks of its release.

The singer serenaded all who braved the cold weather on the night, with his songs striking a chord with the women in the audience. The ladies sang along, screamed and shed a few tears as the crooner’s strong, but soulful voice reverberated around a sparsely filled Queens Sports Club.

Nathi had to take a break mid-set, and to demonstrate the hold his spellbinding performance had on the crowd, the singer’s exit was greeted by raucous protests from fans who thought he had not yet given his all. The crowd clamoured for him to give Bulawayo a much needed live taste of Nomvula his runaway hit-track.

Nathi passed the baton to Vusi Nova, who has been touted as the next big thing on the South African Afro Soul scene. Nova did not disappoint as he also carried the momentum that was started by his compatriot, breezing through a brief but enthusiastic set.

Nathi returned afterwards to a hero’s welcome and he fittingly ended his performance with a crowd stealing rendition of Nomvula. Local rapper Cal_Vin came on stage afterwards, as he performed the hits that took him from an unknown a year ago to an artiste tagged as Zimbabwe’s best rapper.

While the attention of rap fans would have been on Cash Time member Kid X, the local duo of Guluva 7 and Asaph also proved that the city had capable wordsmiths who can also hold their own on stage. Despite an unfairly brief set, Guluva 7 proved why he is one of the city’s leading performers with an enthusiastic and crowd engaging performance of a couple of his songs.

The host for the night, Nomuzi Mabhena also hardly put a foot wrong throughout the night as she, clad in a short red and black dress, charismatically handled the youthful crowd who were sometimes impatient to see their favourite artistes on stage.

Bucie performed admirably later in the wee hours of Sunday, when some of the crowd had left as the cold temperatures kept plummeting.