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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Reporter
South Africa’s Amapiano proponent, Vigro Deep on Sunday put the lid over an exciting weekend in Bulawayo’s entertainment diary with a much-needed performance at Umguza Yacht Club.

It was the culmination of local music promoter Mduduzi Mdlongwa’s 40th birthday celebrations that started on Saturday at Hartsfield Tshisanyama with an All Black Party. An after-party that featured Nutty O who is riding high on his Mustard Seed album was held at BAC Leisure.

On Sunday at Umguza, the venue on the outskirts of Bulawayo was on the tips of people’s tongues as the place to be.

With bars and nightclubs now allowed to operate, revellers seemed liberated by this as they made the over 10 kilometre journey to the venue as early as 4PM for a performance by the headliner, Vigro Deep.

It seems that Mdlongwa has this knack of setting dates for shows at the right time and this was one of those as it was his birthday weekend and Bulawayo party lovers were longing for such fun.

Those who arrived at Umguza after 8PM discovered that they had to park outside the venue so that they gain access as the venue was oversubscribed at that time.

The party got started by much-loved Band Fusion who gave people some live music, filled with nostalgia of yesteryear hits. DJ Slimza set the tone of Vigro Deep’s performance with his blend of Amapiano and house music. DJ Eugy took over the decks alongside Babongile Sikhonjwa and together, they belted tunes that kept the crowd on the dance floor.

It was not that people were anticipating seeing Vigro Deep, but it was the relief on their faces that they could finally have fun, no holds barred. Covid-19 seems to have made people appreciate being together and how much they missed being at shows without restrictions because of the deadly pandemic. And it was befitting that the show was a vaccination drive to urge people to get jabbed in order for Zimbabwe to achieve herd immunity.

DJ Wellyonz, a young up-and-coming wheelspinner took over the decks and gave the crowd some hip hop trap music appealing to the younger ones in the crowd. This was before DJ Nospa added some Afro flavour to the mix before DJ Vigro Deep took over the stage. The South African DJ was greeted by applause and appreciation before he started his set that lasted an hour.

The young DJ is one of the pioneers of the youth music culture called Amapiano from South Africa. His discography is wide and has hits that he kept churning out on the decks such as Locked Tune that was one of the first songs to be a hit from the Amapiano genre to his latest tunes, Take it Slow featuring Sha Sha and Slender that features Focalistic, Khamo Mphela, Rams the Violinist.

After an hour of performing, Vigro Deep, left the decks with many still wanting to party. They were not disappointed as local DJ Tick Tock who is now based in South Africa took over and kept the party going. It was difficult for some, if not most, to leave the venue because the party was not stopping with Tick Tock at the helm.