Leonard Ncube, Online Reporter
LEGENDARY South African musician Freddy Gwala will visit Victoria Falls on 6 October for a tour of the maginificent Falls ahead of launch of his highly anticipated career 19th album titled “IParole” in Bulawayo the following day.
Being a people’s person who loves people, and his music inspired by people, Gwala, of the Amadamara fame, will not have a show in the resort city but will mingle with fans at Tshisanyama.
He will also sample local cuisine at the venue, while posing for photos with his fans.
“Freddy is coming to Victoria Falls as a tourist to see the Falls. We will have him at Tshisanyama to mingle with fans amd we will be charging a cover fee to be able to control crowds.
“We took advantage of his coming that as a legend we invite him to our place. We are still new and growing and having him is a good thing,” said Tshisanyama manager Ashton Ndlovu.
Gwala is expected to launch his new album in Bulawayo on October 7.
He has 19 albums to his sleeve and last released Ama-Criminal in 2016.
This year Gwala also remixed Tsotsi Khiph’idayimana, which was part of the album Shikisha Mahala of 1994.
Gwala started his solo music in 1992 with Amadamara which until today is still a banger although young people, better known as Ama2k, may not know the song.
Gwala’s Amadamara was inspired by a gang that existed in Mzimhlophe, his home area in Soweto in the 1960s, and the gang was not popular for criminal activities but for its dress sense and was popular among women and many men would lose its women to its members.
Victoria Falls music fans will love meeting Gwala, not for his trademark long jacket, wool and cotton blended shirts and wide brim straw hats, but because he grew up singing isicathamiya with his brothers in Dublin and isicathamiya is also popular with traditional imbube dance groups in the resort city.
Born in Mzimhlophe, Soweto 61 years ago, Gwala is still on demand, infact, he is a pantsula for life, known for his street lingo and focus on towsnship and prison life in his rich story telling music.
Gwala is truely a legend. He started the zumba music genre, which is a fusion of soul and disco, and also is the founder of Afro pop music through Platform One, a group he co-founded in 1990.
Inspired by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Gwala began his music career in 1973 when he and his brothers formed Pure Gold.
He later introduced Platform One in 1990 after realising that people who attended weddings were too lazy to sing and through the group he introduced Afro pop music, the first song being Isencane.
Gwala would write Pure Gold and Platform One songs.
Gwala has openly said Zimbabwe is his first home and South Africa second, and his humility has seen him frequenting Bulawayo, sometimes not for shows but to visit friends.
This saw him compose Tshilamoya, a hit song for Highlanders Bosso FC, and Udakwa Kabi, which is also popular with Bosso fans for the lyrics “Int’oyenzayo, Siyayizonda.”
He attributes his success and rise to stardom to the support and love he received from Zimbabwean fans throughout his career.
The new album, “IParole,” tells the story of a man who, after being sentenced to life in prison, returns home to find his wife with another man.
The song explores the challenges faced by ex-convicts upon release and the complex emotions that arise from shattered dreams and lost relationships. Gwala hopes to encourage people to stay away from crime and choose a path of righteousness.
The album comprises 10 songs and an extra bonus track.