Rains dampen Beer Marathon …But Okmalumkoolkat rocks Bulawayo Okmalumkoolkat on stage at Hartsfield on Saturday

Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
HEAVY rains that pounded Bulawayo affected attendance at the inaugural Beer Marathon at Hartsfield Tshisanyama as South African rapper Okmalumkoolkat brought the Umlazi, Durban swag to the City of Kings on Saturday night.

It was Okmalumkoolkat debut show in Zimbabwe as he was the headline act with the likes of Berita Khumalo and Asaph also sharing the stage with him.
Although the numbers of people who attended were low for the inaugural Beer Marathon this did not deter the Zulu Michael Jackson, as Okmalumkoolkat is also known, with his version of bhenga dance moves riding on his Mlazi funky style of hip hop music.

Young fans had come to see the fashion icon with a trendy dress sense that looks weird and cool at the same time. Some were in awe to see an artiste that was behind hits such as Gqi, Amalobolo, Free 100k MaCassete, La Liga, Holy Oxygen and Milazi Milano which he dished out to them during the night.

On stage Okmalumkoolkat is one of the best hip hop performers from South Africa to set foot in Zimbabwe as he kept the crowd engaged for the whole one hour of his set. Lucky fans were given CDs of his albums which were thrown into the crowd periodically during his performance.

This is because he started at around 1AM two hours after he was supposed to finish,before going to Club Cosmopolitan for the after party.

Normally when artistes get off stage they are quickly whisked off stage, but not for Okmalumkoolkat. He went back to the VIP and afforded his fans a chance to take picture swith him.

The whole concept of a Beer Marathon was something good, refreshing perhaps with a big stage set up, with a tent that housed those in VIP area with food and beer stalls dotted around the venue.

However, the problem that organisers KBM Agency encountered was the heavy downpour that hit Bulawayo on Saturday afternoon. This caused some people to shun the Beer Marathon as they were uncertain of the weather and temperatures dropped at night. Also the pricing of the show might have deterred revellers with this biting economic crunch.

This meant the Beer games were suspended for a bit and really people did not pay that much attention when they began as it was now well into the night.

By 9PM when the festival was supposed to be three quarters to be done, it was only getting started with rapper Asaph taking to the stage.

He brought energy on stage, got the few fans gathered there jumping and dancing to his tracks. Asaph was helped by his crew that comprised of Tha Dawg, Fish F McSwaggon, Ganyaz Jr and Larnyx who was the DJ on stage. As promised, Asaph performed his new track Good Times that was received well along with the much anticipated Mambo that got the crowd into frenzy.

Towards midnight, songstress Berita Khumalo brought a mellowness and calm to the crowd that was fast getting agitated as they waited impatiently for Okmalumkoolkat.

She was armed with a guitar without a band and perhaps this was something that nearly worked against her although some were enjoying her set.

During the show special mention should be made about the DJs especially Keezy AM and house duo Renovation Boys who held it down during the night.

Renovation Boys’ duo of Mdast Khalfala and DJ Omllet brought some soothing, soul jerking, deep house tunes during their set and it was refreshing to watch them perform. Some revellers took to the stage to dance along to their beats.

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