BULAWAYO DJ Gibson Ncube has taken the city’s music to the country and beyond.
Matthews Estell
Own Correspondent
The club Dj and radio presenter hosts the The Zi Saturday Zone: Yo link to the City of Kings&Queens on ZiFM every Saturday and he has seen the show grow and reach out to listeners as far as Australia, America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Malaysia and neighbouring countries South Africa, Botswana and Zambia who get their weekend dose of home from the show.
Ncube who started the show on the December 7 2013 has given Bulawayo musicians a lift and a platform to have their music showcased on national radio.
The up-beat show designed to get people into the weekend mode kicks off with the presenter’s 13-minute house mix which is then interrupted by his trademark intro that comprises elements from Michael Jackson, American hip-hop artistes Swizz Beats and Fatman Scoop.
These elements are then mixed with a line from Professor’s Jimaphi le-weight and an unknown Bulawayo rapper then throws in some lines in Ndebele to set the mood for the Ncube introduction to the show.
The highlights of the show are the DJ’s house mixes, the kwaito revival segment where the DJ takes people back to the kwaito era with a variety of hit songs, the Retro sessions where he plays umbaqanga.
The promo zone sees the presenter introducing two tracks he predicts to be future hits, then Ncube puts Bulawayo musicians on the map with two features called “unknown be Known” and “The New Generation Vocal Booth”.
The “Unknown Be Known” feature is all about new artists who are looking for that platform to be heard and be noticed. I give them about seven minutes to expose themselves and all I do is hook up with the artiste in the streets, they give me their music, we do an inteview, I put everything together and boom, we hit the nation with some fresh new talent from Bulawayo.”
With “The New Genaration Vocal Booth”, it is about the sound that the young guys are coming up with, be it kwaito, house, Afro-jazz, gospel or hip-hop, whatever it is, as long as its not music from seasoned artistes, this is their platform” Ncube said.
To date, the show has showcased more than 30 artistes including House music outfits like The Real G, DJ Lava D featuring Mbo Mahocs, DJ Keitho, Kwabatsha, Khuxxman, Marius Keng, DJ Co-operman, Djembe Monks, hip-hop artistes like Dingi Cash, Tha Kin, Klap, LA Josh&Duke Raider, Lady Thug, Afro-jazz artists X-mile, DJ Face, Thandi Dlana, Rnb artiste Alaina, Dance music artistes Bob Skinner, Tramaine, Antivirus, Gospel artists like RudoAmor, Percy featuring Brenda and many more.
“Some of these artistes have already generated interest from people in the music industry in South Africa and Europe,” Ncube said.
“Someone in the Republic of Ireland got in touch with me and they want to work with Alaina, a record label in the United Kingdom wants to realease Marius Keng’s debut single Falling in Love and someone in South Africa also wants to do something with The Real G. Our music is getting recognised and it is getting somewhere” .
The presenter went on to say: “The only challenge I’m facing with some Bulawayo artistes is that a lot of them produce sub-standard music. Their quality, from sound to production is very poor.
“Their content, lyric wise, especially hip-hop artistes, it is not even radio friendly.
“Worse still they rap about things they see in movies, or what the American hip-hop artist raps about as having experienced or experience in their hoods,” Ncube said.
— ZiFm