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Bruce Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
WITH Oskido’s annual homecoming party looming on the horizon, fans will no doubt be curious to find out who the Kalawa supremo will bring for this year’s edition.

If Oskido truly has his ear to the streets, he would by now know that the average Bulawayo reveller is craving for a piece of Babes Wodumo.

Arguably the breakout star of 2016, the uniquely named Babes has dominated the scene with her hit, Wololo.

While the beat of her smash hit song by itself is infectious, it is overpowered by Babes whose voice beckons and seduces even the not so nimble footed to also stomp and scratch the dance floor.

But her vocal performance is only part of the reason why Babes has found favour with fans in Bulawayo and elsewhere.

When she started making appearances on TV, a few could scarcely believe their eyes. If one was expecting someone close to a female version of Mampintsha they were to be disappointed.

What they got instead was a remarkably pretty face, a face whose most alluring quality is a pair of sensuous and luscious lips complemented by a petite body graced by enough curves to make her dance moves all the more potent.

With such an irresistible arsenal, it is no wonder that Babes has, in what may turn out to be no more than 15 minutes of fame, effortlessly become a bona fide sex symbol.

While Zimbabweans join the rest of the continent in drooling over this new star in town, some might question whether the country’s men are ignoring their country-women of similar beauty.

But when one casts an analytical eye over the Zimbabwean music scene, they might find that the country is bankrupt in the sex symbol department.

Babes comes from the same lineage as provocative predecessors like Lebo Mathosa and Brenda Fassie, fearless female stars who bossed the market the way Beyonce and Rihanna do in America.

Although their talents and appeal vary, all the ladies named above are not averse to showing a bit of flesh as they go about their business.

The lack of performers of a similar nature is not necessarily a bad thing for Zimbabwe. Still largely a conservative country, it is thought that most Zimbabweans frown upon such wanton displays of raunchiness.

Perhaps to the average Zimbabwean, the lusciousness of a songbird’s lips does not matter as much as what comes out of those lips.

To that average Zimbabwean, the width of a singer’s hips or how fast they can shake their bosom is not the determinant of how famous they become.

Zimbabwe’s conservatism is perhaps best illustrated on TV where kisses between actors are a rarity while steamy sex scenes are an unexplored no-go area.

For example, Selmor Mtukudzi was recently at pains to explain if, as a married woman, she had got approval from her husband to kiss her co-star in the movie Eclipsed.

Few, if any, asked if the man she locked lips with, Jose Marques, was also married.

This perhaps exposes a double standard. While a skimpily clad Beyonce or Babes is met with adulation, it is highly unlikely that an Ammara Brown doing the same would be tolerated.

So while local audiences would gladly welcome sexiness from foreign stars, they will not accept similar steaminess being manufactured within their own borders.

“In my opinion, perceptions have not changed at all because our culture still overpowers the voice of artistes and people are still quick to label them as they were years ago,” said Sandra Ndebele.

“People still contradict themselves a lot when it comes to female artistes because they will clap for Beyonce in her skimpy outfits but will look away when a local artiste steps out in a swimming costume.”

Therefore, while women in entertainment have always been sexually objectified, the opposite is also true in Zimbabwe where there’s pressure for female stars to cover up, even against their will.

The popularity of the likes of Gonyeti however, shows that Zimbabweans are not averse to minute degrees of raunchiness.

Like other former and current female members of Jah Prayzah’s Third Generation band, Gonyeti is fashioned from the same fabric as the likes of Mukadota’s Katarina, a crowd pleasing curvy woman who spiced up the star’s act.

However, these women’s talents are usually subordinate to that of the male artiste, as they are treated like the undercards only thrown into the ring while the star of the show catches a breather.

Until such a time when an environment where leading female artistes are allowed to be provocative or conservative according to their own whim, Zimbabwe will have to be content with South Africa’s new prized stage dynamo.

@BruciEEye.