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Melissa Mpofu, Showbiz Editor
From Bulawayo to Los Angeles via Mutare, is the journey of fast-rising gem, musician Shasha who this week stunned all and sundry after she became the first Zimbabwean to be nominated for a BET Award.

A very humble and reserved person, Shasha (real name Charmaine Shamiso Mapambiro) who was born in Bulawayo 27 years ago, has always known what she wanted — to become a successful musician.

Shasha’s parents like any other parent, especially in Zimbabwe where the arts aren’t as rewarding financially, were against the idea of her pursuing music as a career.

The parents who wanted the best for their daughter, wanted her to be a nurse instead.

This forced Shasha to make a decision most never want to make as she had to choose between her parents and music career.

“I was conflicted between academics and music and my parents were like ‘if you choose this music thing, you’ll no longer be part of this family. You’ll figure life by yourself’.

“I simply said ‘you know what, fine, it’s ok’,” Shasha said as she made her bold decision to go against her parents’ will and pursued a music career.

“I’m very bold and brave so I was actually fine with my decision to do music. In my quest to pursue music, I went to Harare and started staying with my aunt. I kept on pushing and started off as a receptionist then became a waiter just to try and make ends meet while pushing my music passion on the side,” Shasha said narrating her journey.

This was to be the beginning of greater things to come because while performing for free to market herself in the capital, she met a CEO from a top radio station who identified her talent and linked her up with record producer, Audius Mtawarira. Mtawarira was to catapult her to fame as he honed her skill for three years before linking her up with his partners who were based in US. This was after realising that she was now a complete product. The partners recommended that she goes to South Africa where they linked her up with producers there.

She travelled to South Africa and as fate would have it, she was ferried by a Zimbabwean cab driver.

They engaged in a conversation on their way to her destination and she took the opportunity to reveal that she was in SA to pursue her music career. Coincidentally, the cab driver knew one of South Africa’s finest producers, DJ Maphorisa and offered to hook her up with him. She agreed and a meeting was set up.

Upon meeting Maphorisa at his home where he has a studio in 2017, he simply asked her to sing and he was blown away by one of her ballads. Weeks later, the two were in studio and two years later, they were dropping hit after hit including a feature on Samthing Soweto’s Akulaleki, Tender Love and another feature on MFR Soul’s Love You Tonight.

But before getting down to serious business, Shasha said she did not let excitement cloud her judgement, something that saw her take her time to negotiate a contract with DJ Maphorisa as she did not want to be taken advantage of. As such, it took a year for them to agree on her contract.

Her partnership with DJ Maphorisa last year was well timed as it happened at a time that the genre he was popularising, Amapiano was sought-after and in no time, Shasha had earned herself the name Queen of Amapiano.

Other than Maphorisa, she also worked with the likes of Don Laka and Mlindo the Vocalist.

From performing for free in the early stages of her career to having a full-fledged team that comprises of a personal assistant and booking agents, Shasha now has a busy schedule as she is constantly fully booked.

That is how her life has changed.

And as people were still warming up to her sudden rise to fame and successes through the hits she has been featured on, she surprised them with the BET Awards nomination which also surprised her. She is nominated in the Best New International Act category with Rema (Nigeria) Celeste (UK), Young T & Bugsey (UK), Hatik (France) and Stacy (France).

Chronicle Showbiz Editor, Melissa Mpofu (MM) had a chat with Shasha (SS) moments after the BET announcement on Monday to get to know her.

Below is the interview.

MM: Where was Shasha born?

SS: I was born in Bulawayo and I stayed there for a bit and then I moved to Mutare and then Harare. Most of my years really were in Mutare hence the reason why I always say I’m from Mutare. My dad’s from

Mutare so I grew up mostly in that area.

MM: Where exactly in Mutare are you from and when last did you visit?

SS: I last visited Mutare early this year and my hometown is Chimanimani but when I’m there, I’m usually at my aunt’s place. She moved from Dangamvura and now stays in another neighbourhood.

MM: What does Shasha’s day look like?

SS: I wake up, work out, have my breakfast and check if there are any interviews that I need to be doing. Really most of the times I’ll be focusing on my music. If not that I’ll be indoors, Netflixing.

MM. Who are you dating?

SS: I am not dating anyone. It’s just me, myself and I.

MM: When did you relocate to South Africa?

SS: I’ve stayed here before when I was younger as my mother lived here. I did my Grade 6, 7 and 8 in the Vaal before going back to Zimbabwe so I’ve always been in and out. But moving and staying here permanently happened last year.

MM: How has been the reception of your music there versus in Zimbabwe?

SS: Here in South Africa, because of the Amapiano and house music which people love, I’ve been welcomed in the greatest way. Back at home, they do vibe with me, but it’s not similar to South Africa because SA is a dance nation. At home, I feel it’s more of Zimdancehall and other genres like Afro so I feel like I definitely got a resounding reception in SA.

MM: Are you satisfied with your decision to pursue your music passion in SA?

SS: Yes, of course. I’m definitely satisfied. I mean at this point I am being nominated for a BET award which is an absolute honour. There’s been other victories like all the hits I was on last year which hit crazy numbers. It’s just been all good and I definitely am satisfied with me coming out here to pursue my music.

MM: How has it been working with DJ Maphorisa as well as Kabza de Small?

SS: Kabza and Maphorisa are respected people in the industry, but as the years went on, I realised they are just people who are humble and chilled. It’s been so easy working with them and at the same time, it’s been a learning curve.

MM: Did you think your brand would blow up the way it did?

SS: Well, I hoped that it would go as I hoped that one day I would have a situation like this where I’d be nominated for such and win a Grammy or something. I worked towards the goal which saw me really push the boundaries and constantly challenging myself. That was one of the main reasons I went to South Africa because I just wanted to keep pushing the boundaries and constantly evolve.

MM: How do you feel about being nominated for the BETs?

SS: I’m super excited. I can’t believe this is happening as its mind blowing literally. Just the mere nomination is out of this world.

MM: What do you think made you get this nomination?

SS: I probably think maybe my diversity.

MM: Do your parents now appreciate your career choice?

SS: Yes, they do. The minute they started seeing me catching flights that’s the moment everything changed. They were like “oh well, it looks you’re serious, what you’re doing is serious”. They went from watching quietly to being super proud parents who constantly brag about me to family members and all. They appreciate it now.

MM: What can we expect from Shasha this year?

SS: Expect an album that’s coming up pretty soon. I’m super excited about it and can’t wait to share it with the world.

MM: Which is your favourite song from your music?

SS: I like Emazulwini and Mutare. Mutare because I’m from Mutare and I’ll be thanking my people back home who’ve supported me. It’s just a moment where I’m taking it in and being grateful to those in Mutare for believing in me.

MM: Are you planning on staging a show back home once the lockdown is over?

SS: Yes, I need to. I feel like I haven’t done many shows back home, so it’s something that’s in the pipeline.

MM: If you were to collaborate with a local and regional artiste, who would you opt for?

SS: Locally, I’d love to work with Tammy Moyo, Gary Mapanzure and Gemma Griffiths among others. Regionally the list is long, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Rema to mention a few.

MM: What do you think about the local music industry and what do you think it needs to prosper?

SS: Truthfully, I feel like we’re still growing and we need more brave people who won’t be afraid of what their parents will say because that’s a simple example of what I went through. My parents didn’t support the idea of me doing music at all as it was just taboo to them. They expected me to take the academic route. There’s a lot of talent back home, I’ve seen it and it’s just that because of the way we’re raised, it’s really hard to step into a scene like that (music) and do it.