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Tafadzwa Zimoyo
Senior Arts Reporter
After the success of his latest album “Freedom” earlier this year, which did well on social media platforms such as Spotify and iTunes, Australia-based Zimbabwean musician, Mabasa Ziyambi, known as Bazuka, said 2019 and 2020 helped him become established as an integral part of the music sector.

With his collaborations with Motswana dancer and musician Naledi Kaisara (Slizer) on “Lockdown” which was released recently after being produced and mastered during the lockdown period in different countries, Bazuka said artistes should not stop working because of Covid-19.

Bazuka said he enjoyed working with Slizer on the project, although they are yet to meet in person. “We produced this lockdown song in different countries to increaseawareness of the global pandemic,” he said.

“Music has been something that I have always been drawn to from a young age, and I have always known that I would want to be in the entertainment industry, with songs that give an impact to the community.”

Bazuka said he admired Slizer’s talent and the collaboration was facilitated by a friend.

“The link was facilitated by a friend and Slizer’s Zimbabwe-based manager Gift Petro. We were just discussing music and other social events and we started talking about my own music. I asked him about a collaboration with his artiste and he gave me Slizer’s number.

“I dug deep while putting this together, getting into the studio, discussing what we can sing. I chose Slizer because I loved her energy and approach to entertaining her fans.”

Bazuka said even his family liked Slizer.

“Whenever I am driving for a weekend outing or holiday, my daughter will always ask me to play any song from Slizer, especially the hit song ‘Zimbabwe’,” he said.

“She is a lady with abundant talent. So, I decided why not have her on my song as a gift to my family. She taught me respect and a robust approach to music. The experience she brought into this collaboration shows real leadership and total command of the microphone. She is mature in music and a good communicator.”

Bazuka said the name of the single “Lockdown” inspired by the havoc caused by the Covid-19.

“Our approach was to use both the negative and positives using as much humour as possible. We said ‘Yes, it’s a world crisis’, but as artistes we are not alarmists.

“We spread the word of hope and encourage people to continue as if everything was normal, but at the same time taking cognisance to the world around us and what befell our region and the world,” said Bazuka.

He said the visuals of the video will be released next month as production is taking place.

“Our producers are working flat out to come up with a final product. The visuals will follow in May if everything goes according to plan, as you know the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, travelling bans have affected a lot, so I will do my side while Slizer works on the other part and it will be combined.

“We are shooting in three different countries namely Australia, Botswana and Zimbabwe. We will use technology to our advantage as we are working with a highly qualified production team. As artistes, we work closely with our producers in order to produce high quality material.”