Alexio, Diana celebrate friendship at Bar Rouge Alexio Kawara
Diana Samkange

Diana Samkange

Arts Correspondent—
Alexio Kawara and Diana Samkange have something in common — they entered the music scene as urban grooves singers and have both evolved to traditional contemporary style. While other urban grooves musicians fell by the wayside when the genre lost popularity, Alexio and Diana refused to sink with the ship. They are among musicians from that era that started fusing their music with traditional elements to give it a different feel.

Their music now appeals to the mature and that strategy has helped them stay afloat. Consequently, they have shared the stage on numerous occasions and shared notes on various projects.

Alexio Kawara

Alexio Kawara

The move sealed a friendship defined by the common ropes they climbed from the urban grooves era.

The musicians have seen it fit to celebrate their friendship through a show dubbed “Celebrating Friendship” that will be held at Bar Rouge at Longcheng Plaza on Saturday.

Both concurred it was time to hold the celebratory show and share memories with their fans.

“The journey has not been easy. You know how urban grooves music took the country by storm and faded away in a short period. Many musicians failed to make it beyond that era, but I am happy that Alexio and Diana are still active. We have worked together well and it is time to celebrate,” said Diana.

Alexio said they will take people down memory lane.

“The show is a reflection of our journey so we will take people back in the urban grooves era and then play our current songs. Our style is similar in that we use mbira as the major traditional component, which creates a beat that appeals to the mature. We invite people to come for this celebratory event,” said Alexio.

Bar Rouge manager Spencer Sahumani said their patrons are already in celebratory mood.

“People started asking about the show when they saw posters here. Most of them are already in celebratory mood.

‘‘They will celebrate with Diana and Alexio. It is good that we are sharing the success story of this musical friendship. We will have a surprise for our patrons and we want them to come prepared for fun,” said Sahumani.

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