Staff Writer
Afro-jazz performer and composer Dudu Manhenga returns to live stage this Friday with a concert of some of her greatest music, backed as always by the gifted musicians led by husband and drummer Blessing Mparutsa, joined on vocals by their children – nicknamed ‘the Cubs’ – at the Zimbabwe-German Society in Milton Park starting at 7pm.
Promising a trip down memory lane, the show is all about Dudu reaching out to reconnect with her audience – this after a period out of the spotlight when, other than guesting at a few jazz events and festivals locally, she has been immersed in ministry of the Gospel and some social entrepenuerial endeavours that include developing an educational facility for children in need.
The playlist for the evening will include some of her best-loved music from the six albums to her credit since 2003, songs which have been welcomed and celebrated not only by Zimbabwean audiences but beyond our borders through her performances in countries including South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Zambia, Eswatini, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Spain, Italy and Serbia.
‘Dudu Live in Concert’ is an opportunity to come and hang out, catch up with the star and, as well as tripping down memory lane on favourite tunes, having the great opportunity of catching the first glimpse of her new material.
Half an hour into the concert which starts at 7pm, the show will take the audience online for a sneak preview of her most recent production – the song and video of ‘Munotidisisa’, hot from the studio – and the chance to be among the first to buy it online.
Dudu has been performing professionally since 1997 at the age of 16, and by 2012 had recorded five albums.
She performed widely in Zimbabwe, both solo and alongside some of the nation’s top artists and those from other countries, too many to be named here. Among other tours, in 2009
she toured the Southern African region under the FLAME project, as the Zimbabwean collaborator with women artists from South Africa and Mozambique.
She toured in Italy in 2011, with performances in various cities, and again in 2012, which included a special performance for Pope Benedict XVI, where she received the ‘Italian 25th Grand Prix Award for Social Communication’.
Dudu is considered a world-class act. Her style is influenced by great African and jazz singers, and the dignity of her delivery is a credit to her and to her country, wherever she goes.
The Friday 11 October concert at the Zimbabwe-German Society will be an up-close-and-personal opportunity for fans to reconnect with her, and new audiences to experience what has been described as “an Afrojazz adventure”.
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