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Arts Reporter

Sungura ace Alick “Baba Shero” Macheso is praying for three more decades in the arts industry so that he contributes more to the music sector.

Macheso turns 56 in June.

In his recent live show held in Harare at Warren Park 01 Bar which was oversubscribed, Baba Shero said that he is still energetic and wishes to continue in the game.

“I want to stay in the game for three decades more, I’m still feeling fresh to continue.”

“I don’t want to starve my fans so I will be buried with my guitar. I’m praying to continue till my death,” he said.

The sungura doyen who traces his ancestry from Malawi said that he is inspired by 93-year-old artiste Giddes Chalamanda.

The Malawi-based nonagenarian is still in the game and his last song titled “Linny Hoo” featuring Nomadingo about two years ago has broken the record of having 6,6 million viewers on YouTube.

“I’m inspired by my fellow brother, Giddes Chalamanda who is based in Malawi. At 93 he is still powerful enough to make hits.”

“I’m praying to God so that I can reach my 90s in the game. Look at Giddes, he is still a household artiste in Malawi,” said Baba Shero.

At 55-years, Macheso feels like he is still a teenager in the game and yet to complete his mission.

As he readies his 13th album, he said has so many songs in his archives which he did not want to leave unreleased by the time of his death.

“I’m still a novice in this game, I want more decades. Right now I’m going to release my 13th project in June.”

“I have hundreds of songs but unfortunately it is our ritual in sungura to release just six per album but my wish is I don’t want to leave my unreleased songs by the time of my death,” he said.

Already, Thomas Mapfumo who is 79-years old has called it quits and Mechanic Manyeruke who is 82-years old did the same.

Macheso said that he wishes to surpass that record and be the longest serving Zimbabwean artiste.

“I’m praying to be an icon, an artiste who serves more in the industry than anyone.

“Right now, the likes of Thomas Mapfumo and Mechanic Manyeruke have resigned but I don’t want to do what they did, I want to be active till my death,” he said.

During the show, Macheso took time to thank his fans and promoters who are supporting him during this drought spell.

As a bush celeb, he said that when they go to the farms for live shows, the attendance has drastically dropped due to this drought.

“This year is a tough one, with this drought our business in the farms has declined by a huge margin.”

“We are based in the farms, a large number of our fans are farmers so with this drought they can no longer afford to come to our shows, so I want to thank all of you who come today to support us, may God bless you all,” said Macheso.

Later on at the show the artiste thanked Harare businessman and philanthropist, Sir Wicknell Chivayo who has recently showered him with a gift of a brand new Mercedes Benz GLE-400 which cost a staggering US$140 000.

Macheso denounces the allegations that he has returned the gift to Sir Wicknell.

“I want to thank Sir Wicknell, for the role he is playing to uplift our music industry, if you go outside this building you can see a new Mercedes Benz which I was given by him.”

“Don’t follow haters who are saying that I have returned back the gift to him, those are false allegations by my haters who are aiming to tarnish my image to my promoters,” he said.