Tawanda Ngena Arts Correspondent
WHAT do you get when you put three extremely talented divas on one stage and their names happen to be Dudu Manhenga, Clare Nyakujara and Uzanele? The answer is — fireworks!
The three are members of a collaborative outfit called Three Generations and regularly play together when they are not with their respective bands.
On Thursday, the trio was at the Book Café as they kicked off this year’s celebrations of International Women’s Day with song and dance.
“Tonight we are here to celebrate International Women’s Day. The UN theme for International Women’s Day 2013 is ‘A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women’”, she told the audience and challenged the menfolk to deliver on their promises to love, care and cherish their spouses, “not just on Women’s Day, but throughout the year,” to cheers from the female revellers. But she was not finished yet. “In fact, I think everyday should be declared Women’s Day,” the afro-jazz singer said.
The trio went on to perform tracks from their albums, with Dudu leading the way with her own version of “The Click Song” and Miriam Makeba’s “Pata Pata” as well as various tracks from her three albums to date “Out of the Blue”, “Jula” and “Towards Alignment”.
Nyakujara, who is fast making strides in afro-jazz music, weighed in with “Zvandaona” and the ever popular “Famba Neni” taken off her second album “Unleashed”.
Dudu Manhenga (32) is the “big sister” of the Three Generations, thanks to her vast experience dating back to the time when she was a 16-year-old growing up in Bulawayo. She also is also the elder sister to Uzanele, the “baby” of the Three Generations. “Uza”, as she is affectionately known, has performed on various international tours with Dudu. She has also performed alongside some of Zimbabwe’s top jazz musicians, including Mbare Trio, Bob Nyabinde and The Cool Crooners.
During Thursday’s show she performed one of the plug tracks from her upcoming album. Titled “Nginje”, the song is a didactic, jazzy piece in which she encourages people to take responsibility for their personal flaws rather than shift the blame onto others.
“The meaning behind ‘Nginje’ is that ‘I am’ because of the decisions and choices I have made not because of other people,” explained Uzanele. She added that some of the problems people go through in life are a result of the personal choices they made in the past.
The much-travelled Dudu, Clare and Uza brought the roof down with a breathtaking performance that included a segment titled “Good Girl Meets Bad Girl”, a tribute to two of Mzansi’s biggest music talents Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Brenda Fassie.
No prizes for guessing who the “bad girl” was. It was, of course, “MaBrenda” whose music career and life ended tragically in May 2004 reportedly from a drug overdose. But the controversies surrounding her life were temporarily forgotten on Thursday night as Dudu and company remembered her with renditions of some her popular hits such as “Weekend Special”, “Vulindlela”, “It’s Good to Be With People”, among others. “Good Girl” Chaka Chaka, a UN Goodwill Ambassador, was also honoured through such hits as “Umqomboti”, “Let Him Go” and “I’m Burning Up”.
