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Jeys Marabini

Kiyapili Sibanda, Showbiz Reporter
AFRO jazz artiste Jeys Marabini put up a sterling performance at Masilela Leisure Centre in Gwabalanda at his first show of taking music back to the community.

Jeys began his tour “Thath’ uMusic Thatha Community Concerts” on Saturday at Masilela Leisure Centre in Gwabalanda, Bulawayo.

The renowned afro jazz artiste put up a magnificent three-hour set.  The highlight of the show came from fans who went to the stage and displayed marvellous footwork in dancing cultural routines.  This made Jeys acknowledge their performances saying Ndebele traditional dancing is still alive.

Songs taken from the album Thula Sana like the title track and Inkunz’emnyama proved to be popular with the fans as they sang along and danced all night.

Jeys said: “The concert is taking music to the people and we have started here at Masilela. Most of my fans stay in townships and people were hungry for my music that is why I am giving people what they need,” he said.

Jeys said he was delighted by the response he got as people came in numbers to support the concert.

He said if all goes well the tour will spread across Zimbabwe and possibly South Africa.

“The tour will be in Bulawayo first then parts of Matabeleland North and South and if all goes well we’ll go to other parts of the country. However, we want to take him to South Africa for a tour and see if we can also establish a fan base,” said Jeys.

He said he got a distribution deal in South Africa that would enable his music to be available in online stores and also got state-of-the-art studio equipment that would help up-and-coming artistes to record at lower fees.

He said the new album is coming out soon as they are busy in the studio and fans must expect good music.

Born Majahawodwa Ndlovu, Jeys has eight albums:

Emarabini (2002), Thuthukani Ngothando (2004), Sounds of Today and Tomorrow (2005), Jeys Marabini One Time (2008), Izenzo (2009), Jeys@40 (2012), Silo (2013) and Thula Sana (2016).

@kiyaz_Cool