KENYAN LITTLE KNOWN "DOGO RED" ALL THE WAY TO ZIMBABWE FOR A UNIQUE DANCEHALL "ZIM DANCEHALL"

Popularly known for its brand, ‘Ghetto youth’ music, Zimbabwe’s most popular music genre, Zim dancehall, has given birth to Kenyan and Zimbabwean artistes’ music collaborations.

Zim dancehall, which emanated from the young generation, has lured a 23-year-old Kenyan Afro-pop musician, Freddy Kabikila, aka Dogo Red, to divert his trademark and record several single collaborations with different Zim dancehall musicians.

Dogo Red started recording his singles upon his arrival in Zimbabwe early this month and has already managed to release the songs – two weeks later.

Among the songs that were released recently by the Kenyan musician are: ‘Mari’ or ‘Pesa Pesa’, which features Ras Prince, ‘Summer Time’ and ‘I Want You’. The songs were produced by DJ Fantan under Chill Spots, Darksound records and Propa Bless, respectively.

In an interview, Red Dogo’s manager, Kasim Saidi Shabani, said: “We are glad to be in Zimbabwe and ever since we came in, we have developed so much love for Zim dancehall music, which is why we have engaged the Zim dancehall producers for new productions and collaborations.”

He said the new dimension that his artiste Dogo Red has taken is exciting a lot of their fans, adding that it is good for his artiste to diverse more into such a genre.

Shabani added: “Dogo Red is an Afro-pop artiste but his sudden love for Zim dancehall has generated this new feel of music that is drawing much attention to the young generation.

“Even his fans in Kenya and Burundi have supported his new sound.  There is quite a number of good feedbacks on Dogo Red’s new sound.”

He said Dogo Red’s new sound is bringing his fans from East Africa and Zim dancehall from southern Africa together, as the songs are in Swahili, Shona and English.

Zim dancehall producers have hailed the collaboration saying it is good for Zim dancehall music to spread to other African regions other than southern Africa.

“We have produced some collaborations of Zim dancehall with gospel musicians, Sungura artistes and mbira players in Zimbabwe but having a Swahili feel is our first one. It is actually an advantage for our genre, as it is slowly gaining popularity in other African regions such as East Africa,” said DJ Fantan.

Born as Arnold Kamudyariwa, DJ Fantan said Zim dancehall has been making a great impact within Zimbabwe, adding that it was fairly appreciated in a few countries within southern Africa.

DJ Fantan added: “The concept of doing collaborations with other artists from different African regions is a positive step in regionalising the genre.  We look forward to having our Zim dancehall artistes being invited also to East Africa for shows and not only within southern Africa and the United Kingdom.”

Dogo Red started music at the age of 16 in his home country and has become most popular in Burundi.

He has produced popular songs from East Africa such as ‘Bujumbura ndio nyambani’, ‘Maisha’, ‘Sakina’ and ‘Nakutaka’, which are most common among the young people.

The Kenyan artiste has also done collaborations with hip-hop artistes in South African following his 2013 show in Cape Town.