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Arts Correspondent
Afro-fusion group from Midlands province, The Travelers, were the winners of this year’s edition of the Chibuku Road to Fame finals held at Glamis Stadium on Saturday.

The group went away with $7 000 while second-placed African Tribe from Bulawayo went away with $5 000 while Knight Sounds that came third got $3 000. Other groups that participated in the competition include Olama Hearts, Tunes of Harmony, Uzumba Express, Kweseka,Black Omolo, Grade 2 D and Tshitshi Super Sounds. Tafadzwa Mapasawo of The Travelers said they were happy to be the winners of this year’s competition and he was looking forward to take the group to another level.

“Besides the money we are happy that we are getting a recording contract meaning we now have some where to start from,” he said. The competition is the partnership of Delta Beverages and the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe. It was launched on the 27th of October 2001, by Delta Beverages as a musical showcase to identify musical talent.

The main objective behind the talent identification competition is to afford aspiring musicians an opportunity to interact with established musicians as well as assist them to record their work, thus contributing to the development of the music industry in the country whilst they entertain the Chibuku consumers. The showcase aims to promote the development of music through the identification of groups with potential to produce recordable material and assist the winning groups in documenting their work through an album.

After the competition Leonard Zhakata, Peter Moyo, Ammara Brown and Boom Berto performed. Last year’s winners, Adequate Sounds performed and were joined by another sungura musician Mark Ngwazi who thrilled fans. Ammara Brown had a good day in office while Moyo and Zhakata also did well to excite people at the competition.