‘The Khuzani and Friends show’ fails
It was a busy weekend in celebville in Durban with the latest instalment of the Impucuzeko Maskandi Festival, which was hosted at People’s Park at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The event needs a revamp, or it will die a slow death. It felt more like a funeral service than a celebration.
It is no longer one of the maskandi events people want to be at, and the organisers must humble themselves and apologise to the fans and the artists who didn’t perform.
Whoever told me that Impucuzeko has become Khuzani Mpungose’s one-man show was right. Event organiser Xolani Mcineka and his team must change their attitude because maskandi music is not only about their friend and business partner, Khuzani.
The event organisers seem to be under the spell of Mpungose and behave as if he is the alpha and omega of the industry. They gave him an allowance to perform for whole hour, yet other artists performed one song. They might as well rename the event the Mpungose and Friends show.
Back to what remained of the event after Mpungose had his hour of fame. I tried ignoring this but legendary maskandi artist Thokozani Langa must never honour an Impucuzeko booking. It was so sad to see an elderly person standing in the cold in Zulu regalia hoping to perform, but not ending up on stage. Bab’ulanga stop this entertainment nonsense, this was the second time you weren’t able to perform in that event.
The highlight of the night was when I got to see the artists who were groomed by the late Mjikijelwa: Intencane, Smirnoff, Matende and Mnikezwa.
The four young artists are the future of maskandi music, and you could even tell by the way they presented themselves on stage that they were groomed by some of the best producers, songwriters and artists.
To all the artists that didn’t perform because of time (Gatsheni, Thokozani Langa, Izingane Zoma, Jaiva Zimnike, Khangelani “DSD” Mhlongo, Cevuzile Mchunu, and others), next time think about your brands and stop being used like a spare wheel. It came as a surprise that Ukhozi FM radio presenter Tshatha Ngobe was honoured as one of the people who played a big role in uplifting maskandi music in the country. Anyway, congratulations Tshatha despite some naysayers such as Ngizwe Mchunu, who felt it was a favour from your friends who are organisers of the event. Let’s hope the upcoming Umbuso kamaskandi event will be able to do justice to maskandi artists.