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Sizzla here to stay
By Goodwill Zunidza
THE charm of our motherland, the world-famous land of milk and honey, our dear old Zimbabwe, has once more proved irresistible to the discerning traveller, and scores keep falling in love with the country and turning it into their fixed abode.
The latest and <span style="font-weight: bold">most important visitor </span>to be swayed by the infectious Zimbabwean touch is leading Jamaican entertainer Sizzla Kalonji, who has finally put to rest rumours regarding his future and exclusively revealed to The Sunday Mail that he is in Harare to stay.
The 34-year-old dancehall maestro told us last week <span style="font-weight: bold">that he was not moved by international speculation as to his motive to leave Jamaica but would follow his conscience and repatriate to Africa, answering to the call of the great Rastafari prophet and black consciousness crusader, Marcus Garvey</span>.
Jamaican-born Garvey, who lived and flourished in New York — leading an 11-million-member organisation called the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) — taught all black people in the Diaspora, in particular descendants of victims of the slave trade, to “look to Africa for a black king”.
In his “Return to Africa” teachings, Garvey urged his followers to forsake their forcibly adopted homelands and return to their continent of origin.
Thousands have heeded Garvey’s call, not only inspired by his powerful teachings but also pushed by the natural and man-made disasters they witness on a regular basis in Caribbean settlements, where climatic disorders in the low-lying islands compete with violent crime to brutally account for the lives of hapless citizens.
It is not only black Americans and West Indians, though, who have repatriated to the motherland but several other visitors from around Africa, chief among them artistes of the rhumba genres who have made beelines to Zimbabwe and melted among the local populace.
Lubumbashi Stars, if we recall, are one such famed outfit hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to have decided on pitching camp in Southern Africa’s most central nation. They were not even the first. The Jojo Mbav-led Real Sounds had been the earliest rhumba band to settle in Zimbabwe soon after independence to be followed a few years later by Lubumbashi and eventually by a host of other musicians from the DRC.
Mozambican traditional pop singer Wizzy Masuke also made Zimbabwe her home in the early ’90s while Munya Brown of the acclaimed reggae group Misty in Roots became the pioneering Jamaican musical immigrant, choosing to stay behind following a successful tour by the “Wandering Wanderer” performers in 1981. Born Dennis Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, Munya proceeded to play a big part in the revolution of reggae music in Zimbabwe by founding Transit Crew, still the prime roots reggae ensemble in the country to this day and now comprised entirely of Zimbabweans.
Kalonji, whose work permit, we can confirm, has since been issued by the Department of Immigration, is the biggest name in international music to relocate to Zimbabwe. He told the paper he had made up his mind to work from Africa with Zimbabwe being his destiny.
“I am here to stay,” Sizzla emphatically declared to the writer shortly before he flew out of the country on a business trip this past week.
“Why not?” he asked rhetorically. “Zimbabwe is home. I have received tremendous welcome.”
Since Tuesday, Sizzla has been in Trinidad & Tobago, a twin island state grouped together with his native Jamaica in the Caribbean islands. He was scheduled to hold his first show last night before rounding up his tour with another gig this Wednesday. The reggae star, who has staged three shows in Zimbabwe so far, will soon after his engagement in T & T return to Harare and consolidate the enterprises he has established locally to complement his singing profession.
“In Zimbabwe we have already started recording. I am also looking into areas Judgement Yard can invest in for the upliftment of Zimbabwean youths,” Sizzla attested.
Among Sizzla’s investments are a farm he has been allocated by the Government in Chegutu, on which he plans to set up agro-industries for youths under his Jamaican social responsibility banner, Judgement Yard. Kalonji, born Miguel Collins to devout Rastafari parents, is a mechanical engineer by profession.
Controversy has surrounded Sizzla’s possession of the farm in question with right-wing media outlets claiming it had been traded off to the Jamaican artiste in return for carrying out a public relations campaign for the Zanu-PF liberation movement.
But Sizzla’s lady publicist in Jamaica has rebuffed the insinuation of the online reports, pointing out, instead, the land was acquired in a straight business deal between the artiste’s company Judgement Yard and Zimbabwean authorities.
“The allocation of the farm land does not have any relation to any political party,” said Olimatta Taal in Kingston. “Instead of giving him cash (for his performances at the 21st February Movement celebrations) they gave him land. Although they (the Western media) want to discredit and criminalise him, it is very honourable that he would take land instead of cash,” she added, noting that the land received is for the Rastafarian community.
Sizzla is also understood to have made inquiries into the local textile industry, expressing strong interest in a clothing factory that will manufacture Rastafarian and African regalia and directly create hundreds of jobs for unemployed youths. Sizzla’s commercial concerns will be run along similar lines as his Jamaican enterprise, Judgement Yard.
Judgement Yard was established as a community centre in August Town, an eastern suburb of Kingston, Jamaica, by Sizzla Kalonji. Although it is a multi-dimensional organisation, its name is taken from the geographic district located along August Town Road, which is where Sizzla has one of his residences.
Judgement Yard is also the base of Kalonji’s state-of-the-art studio, as well as his record label, Kalonji Records. As the owner and founder of the Yard, Kalonji is responsible for many young people in the community of August Town, as well as youths who come from other areas to seek assistance and guidance in life as well as music.Many of the members of the Judgement Yard fraternity are budding musicians in their own right or have some direct affiliation with the music through other complementary production works.
Although Kalonji’s UK-based promoter, Nhamo Chitimbe, has been instrumental in facilitating his sojourn in Zimbabwe, the Jamaican first got intimate information about the country from fellow roots and culture artiste Luciano, who performed in Harare in 2007.
Luciano was the major force behind Sizzla’s breakthrough in music in the late ’90s after roping in the promising youngster for his extensive tours around Jamaica and the islands, from which Sizzla earned notability in toasting to the singerman Luciano’s lyrics.
Sizzla is now in the process of importing high-tech sound equipment for a studio whose doors he has already opened in Borrowdale, the northern outskirts of the capital where he resides. He is sessioning with several local reggae artistes, notably skilful lyricist Ras I and Transit Crew to put together his debut effort on Zimbabwean soil.
The still-to-be-titled album will be Sizzla Kalonji’s 46th release overall since he burst on to the JA charts in 1995 as a freshman serving apprenticeship with the Caveman Hi-Fi sound system in street Kingston. He has 45 albums to his name and over 15 combination albums with a span of other Jamaican and American artistes, including hip-hop crooners like Jay-Z and Whitney Houston.
Presently, Kalonji is riding high with his latest solo gem “Crucial Times” released under the prominent Greensleeves label in January this year, a week before he was arrested, detained and questioned by Jamaican police in connection with a shooting incident that occurred in the August Town neighbourhood.
The artiste was, however, released without charge after he strenuously denied any knowledge of the allegations and no evidence was found linking him with the crime.
The case, informed to the local and wider audience in The Sunday Mail a fortnight ago, has resurrected on the Internet since then with Sizzla’s publicist vowing that the Jamaican was “not on tha run” as he had no outstanding matter with law enforcement agents.
And, as he prepared to depart from Harare International Airport on Monday, Sizzla indicated he had been forced to travel for his shows in Trinidad & Tobago earlier than scheduled.
He said this was in order to appear at media conferences after promoters there expressed worry he would not pitch up following the reports that he was a fugitive from justice.
Lifting its story from The Sunday Mail, a UK-based Internet site run by self-exiled Zimbabweans made brazen claims that Sizzla was under investigation in Jamaica and had decided to stay in Zimbabwe after being offered a farm to campaign for Zanu-PF.
But his publicist is denying that claim, saying the artiste has been touring Africa since February and he is not under investigation for murder.
She said Sizzla is aware of the renewed allegations but is not moved by them.
“He has heard about it and he laughed when he heard it. He doesn’t take it to heart. He knows that this is what they do. We don’t plan to sue them, we just laugh at them,” she was quoted as saying by a Jamaican publication.
Sizzla’s fans and general observers wasted no time in hitting back at the reports, reminding the conspirators that the musician was free to choose anywhere he wanted to live.
Said one: “There are British gays who would do anything to harm Zimbabwe. Over the years these gay guys have infiltrated some Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, especially in the UK, to write things that are very untrue about Zimbabwe because they are fighting to get permanent residence in the UK through fake refugee claims.”
Contributing to the Sizzla debate on a London-Jamaican website, the writer continued:
“Zimbabwe is the heartbeat of reggae/dancehall in Africa, so we let it be known that gay guys have no place in Zimbabwe.
“Sizzla has performed in South Africa, Ghana, The Gambia and Zimbabwe. As a man, Sizzla chose Zimbabwe as his roots, after all, he is a son of Africa.
“There are a lot of UK-based Internet papers that affiliate themselves with Zimbabwe but are not in Zimbabwe. Sizzla is an African descendant, so if the government feels like giving land to him, I don’t see no problem.
“No one made noise when Rita Marley was given land in Ghana. Zimbabwe has a lot of land for distribution if one follows proper channels,’’ he advised and still went on.
“Sizzla paid his dues in the struggle, he deserves the land for the Rastafarians. After all, most Jamaican singers helped liberate Zimbabwe with their songs of freedom. That’s why Bob Marley was invited to grace the stage on the 17th and 18th of April 1980 to celebrate the country’s independence from the UK.”
The discourse was taken up on another website with the views getting more blunt:
“Big up Sizzla, Big up Africa, Big up Zimbabwe, Big up Honourable Mugabe for giving land to our hero Sizzla Kalonji. They Babylon (should) stop spreading false allegations about Kalonji. Kalonji stand(s) for justice (and) fairness.”
Olimataa Taal, Sizzla’s publicist, added in her comments that Sizzla was apolitical.
“He is in Zimbabwe because he loves Africa. He isn’t pro-Mugabe or anti-Mugabe, but he respects Mugabe as a leader.”
During his performance at the Harare International Conference Centre in February, Sizzla made an impassioned plea to the President to help in the repatriation of African descendants back to their rightful home again.
“I would like to thank President Mugabe for empowering the Zimbabwean people,” boomed Sizzla in introducing the next song on his playlist.
“I am representing the black community all over the world outside Africa. I now want the President to champion the cause for the return of the African people from the gates of hell they are living in Jamaica and right through the Caribbean. We are not there by choice,” he chanted as the multitudes of his fans in attendance cheered his every word affectionately.
Sizzla’s assumption of residence status in Zimbabwe is poised to score a huge mark on Zimbabwe’s international hospitality rating, coming as it does just 38 days today before the global Fifa World Cup festival begins across the Limpopo River in neighbouring South Africa.
Along with other new generation reggae artistes springing up in Jamaica, Sizzla is credited with crusading for a re-embracement of Rastafarian values among Africans, by churning out material which is concerned primarily with spirituality and social consciousness.
As many as 21 of his albums have made it onto the Billboard Top Reggae Albums music charts, the highest of them “Words of Truth” reaching the peak position of #5. He has won several nominations for Best International Reggae Artiste of the Year at the MOBO Awards.
Though now domiciled in the international music backwaters of Zimbabwe, Sizzla is expected to maintain his blinding visibility on the worldwide reggae charts and effortlessly sustain his international fan base.
By Goodwill Zunidza
THE charm of our motherland, the world-famous land of milk and honey, our dear old Zimbabwe, has once more proved irresistible to the discerning traveller, and scores keep falling in love with the country and turning it into their fixed abode.
The latest and <span style="font-weight: bold">most important visitor </span>to be swayed by the infectious Zimbabwean touch is leading Jamaican entertainer Sizzla Kalonji, who has finally put to rest rumours regarding his future and exclusively revealed to The Sunday Mail that he is in Harare to stay.
The 34-year-old dancehall maestro told us last week <span style="font-weight: bold">that he was not moved by international speculation as to his motive to leave Jamaica but would follow his conscience and repatriate to Africa, answering to the call of the great Rastafari prophet and black consciousness crusader, Marcus Garvey</span>.
Jamaican-born Garvey, who lived and flourished in New York — leading an 11-million-member organisation called the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) — taught all black people in the Diaspora, in particular descendants of victims of the slave trade, to “look to Africa for a black king”.
In his “Return to Africa” teachings, Garvey urged his followers to forsake their forcibly adopted homelands and return to their continent of origin.
Thousands have heeded Garvey’s call, not only inspired by his powerful teachings but also pushed by the natural and man-made disasters they witness on a regular basis in Caribbean settlements, where climatic disorders in the low-lying islands compete with violent crime to brutally account for the lives of hapless citizens.
It is not only black Americans and West Indians, though, who have repatriated to the motherland but several other visitors from around Africa, chief among them artistes of the rhumba genres who have made beelines to Zimbabwe and melted among the local populace.
Lubumbashi Stars, if we recall, are one such famed outfit hailing from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to have decided on pitching camp in Southern Africa’s most central nation. They were not even the first. The Jojo Mbav-led Real Sounds had been the earliest rhumba band to settle in Zimbabwe soon after independence to be followed a few years later by Lubumbashi and eventually by a host of other musicians from the DRC.
Mozambican traditional pop singer Wizzy Masuke also made Zimbabwe her home in the early ’90s while Munya Brown of the acclaimed reggae group Misty in Roots became the pioneering Jamaican musical immigrant, choosing to stay behind following a successful tour by the “Wandering Wanderer” performers in 1981. Born Dennis Brown in Kingston, Jamaica, Munya proceeded to play a big part in the revolution of reggae music in Zimbabwe by founding Transit Crew, still the prime roots reggae ensemble in the country to this day and now comprised entirely of Zimbabweans.
Kalonji, whose work permit, we can confirm, has since been issued by the Department of Immigration, is the biggest name in international music to relocate to Zimbabwe. He told the paper he had made up his mind to work from Africa with Zimbabwe being his destiny.
“I am here to stay,” Sizzla emphatically declared to the writer shortly before he flew out of the country on a business trip this past week.
“Why not?” he asked rhetorically. “Zimbabwe is home. I have received tremendous welcome.”
Since Tuesday, Sizzla has been in Trinidad & Tobago, a twin island state grouped together with his native Jamaica in the Caribbean islands. He was scheduled to hold his first show last night before rounding up his tour with another gig this Wednesday. The reggae star, who has staged three shows in Zimbabwe so far, will soon after his engagement in T & T return to Harare and consolidate the enterprises he has established locally to complement his singing profession.
“In Zimbabwe we have already started recording. I am also looking into areas Judgement Yard can invest in for the upliftment of Zimbabwean youths,” Sizzla attested.
Among Sizzla’s investments are a farm he has been allocated by the Government in Chegutu, on which he plans to set up agro-industries for youths under his Jamaican social responsibility banner, Judgement Yard. Kalonji, born Miguel Collins to devout Rastafari parents, is a mechanical engineer by profession.
Controversy has surrounded Sizzla’s possession of the farm in question with right-wing media outlets claiming it had been traded off to the Jamaican artiste in return for carrying out a public relations campaign for the Zanu-PF liberation movement.
But Sizzla’s lady publicist in Jamaica has rebuffed the insinuation of the online reports, pointing out, instead, the land was acquired in a straight business deal between the artiste’s company Judgement Yard and Zimbabwean authorities.
“The allocation of the farm land does not have any relation to any political party,” said Olimatta Taal in Kingston. “Instead of giving him cash (for his performances at the 21st February Movement celebrations) they gave him land. Although they (the Western media) want to discredit and criminalise him, it is very honourable that he would take land instead of cash,” she added, noting that the land received is for the Rastafarian community.
Sizzla is also understood to have made inquiries into the local textile industry, expressing strong interest in a clothing factory that will manufacture Rastafarian and African regalia and directly create hundreds of jobs for unemployed youths. Sizzla’s commercial concerns will be run along similar lines as his Jamaican enterprise, Judgement Yard.
Judgement Yard was established as a community centre in August Town, an eastern suburb of Kingston, Jamaica, by Sizzla Kalonji. Although it is a multi-dimensional organisation, its name is taken from the geographic district located along August Town Road, which is where Sizzla has one of his residences.
Judgement Yard is also the base of Kalonji’s state-of-the-art studio, as well as his record label, Kalonji Records. As the owner and founder of the Yard, Kalonji is responsible for many young people in the community of August Town, as well as youths who come from other areas to seek assistance and guidance in life as well as music.Many of the members of the Judgement Yard fraternity are budding musicians in their own right or have some direct affiliation with the music through other complementary production works.
Although Kalonji’s UK-based promoter, Nhamo Chitimbe, has been instrumental in facilitating his sojourn in Zimbabwe, the Jamaican first got intimate information about the country from fellow roots and culture artiste Luciano, who performed in Harare in 2007.
Luciano was the major force behind Sizzla’s breakthrough in music in the late ’90s after roping in the promising youngster for his extensive tours around Jamaica and the islands, from which Sizzla earned notability in toasting to the singerman Luciano’s lyrics.
Sizzla is now in the process of importing high-tech sound equipment for a studio whose doors he has already opened in Borrowdale, the northern outskirts of the capital where he resides. He is sessioning with several local reggae artistes, notably skilful lyricist Ras I and Transit Crew to put together his debut effort on Zimbabwean soil.
The still-to-be-titled album will be Sizzla Kalonji’s 46th release overall since he burst on to the JA charts in 1995 as a freshman serving apprenticeship with the Caveman Hi-Fi sound system in street Kingston. He has 45 albums to his name and over 15 combination albums with a span of other Jamaican and American artistes, including hip-hop crooners like Jay-Z and Whitney Houston.
Presently, Kalonji is riding high with his latest solo gem “Crucial Times” released under the prominent Greensleeves label in January this year, a week before he was arrested, detained and questioned by Jamaican police in connection with a shooting incident that occurred in the August Town neighbourhood.
The artiste was, however, released without charge after he strenuously denied any knowledge of the allegations and no evidence was found linking him with the crime.
The case, informed to the local and wider audience in The Sunday Mail a fortnight ago, has resurrected on the Internet since then with Sizzla’s publicist vowing that the Jamaican was “not on tha run” as he had no outstanding matter with law enforcement agents.
And, as he prepared to depart from Harare International Airport on Monday, Sizzla indicated he had been forced to travel for his shows in Trinidad & Tobago earlier than scheduled.
He said this was in order to appear at media conferences after promoters there expressed worry he would not pitch up following the reports that he was a fugitive from justice.
Lifting its story from The Sunday Mail, a UK-based Internet site run by self-exiled Zimbabweans made brazen claims that Sizzla was under investigation in Jamaica and had decided to stay in Zimbabwe after being offered a farm to campaign for Zanu-PF.
But his publicist is denying that claim, saying the artiste has been touring Africa since February and he is not under investigation for murder.
She said Sizzla is aware of the renewed allegations but is not moved by them.
“He has heard about it and he laughed when he heard it. He doesn’t take it to heart. He knows that this is what they do. We don’t plan to sue them, we just laugh at them,” she was quoted as saying by a Jamaican publication.
Sizzla’s fans and general observers wasted no time in hitting back at the reports, reminding the conspirators that the musician was free to choose anywhere he wanted to live.
Said one: “There are British gays who would do anything to harm Zimbabwe. Over the years these gay guys have infiltrated some Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, especially in the UK, to write things that are very untrue about Zimbabwe because they are fighting to get permanent residence in the UK through fake refugee claims.”
Contributing to the Sizzla debate on a London-Jamaican website, the writer continued:
“Zimbabwe is the heartbeat of reggae/dancehall in Africa, so we let it be known that gay guys have no place in Zimbabwe.
“Sizzla has performed in South Africa, Ghana, The Gambia and Zimbabwe. As a man, Sizzla chose Zimbabwe as his roots, after all, he is a son of Africa.
“There are a lot of UK-based Internet papers that affiliate themselves with Zimbabwe but are not in Zimbabwe. Sizzla is an African descendant, so if the government feels like giving land to him, I don’t see no problem.
“No one made noise when Rita Marley was given land in Ghana. Zimbabwe has a lot of land for distribution if one follows proper channels,’’ he advised and still went on.
“Sizzla paid his dues in the struggle, he deserves the land for the Rastafarians. After all, most Jamaican singers helped liberate Zimbabwe with their songs of freedom. That’s why Bob Marley was invited to grace the stage on the 17th and 18th of April 1980 to celebrate the country’s independence from the UK.”
The discourse was taken up on another website with the views getting more blunt:
“Big up Sizzla, Big up Africa, Big up Zimbabwe, Big up Honourable Mugabe for giving land to our hero Sizzla Kalonji. They Babylon (should) stop spreading false allegations about Kalonji. Kalonji stand(s) for justice (and) fairness.”
Olimataa Taal, Sizzla’s publicist, added in her comments that Sizzla was apolitical.
“He is in Zimbabwe because he loves Africa. He isn’t pro-Mugabe or anti-Mugabe, but he respects Mugabe as a leader.”
During his performance at the Harare International Conference Centre in February, Sizzla made an impassioned plea to the President to help in the repatriation of African descendants back to their rightful home again.
“I would like to thank President Mugabe for empowering the Zimbabwean people,” boomed Sizzla in introducing the next song on his playlist.
“I am representing the black community all over the world outside Africa. I now want the President to champion the cause for the return of the African people from the gates of hell they are living in Jamaica and right through the Caribbean. We are not there by choice,” he chanted as the multitudes of his fans in attendance cheered his every word affectionately.
Sizzla’s assumption of residence status in Zimbabwe is poised to score a huge mark on Zimbabwe’s international hospitality rating, coming as it does just 38 days today before the global Fifa World Cup festival begins across the Limpopo River in neighbouring South Africa.
Along with other new generation reggae artistes springing up in Jamaica, Sizzla is credited with crusading for a re-embracement of Rastafarian values among Africans, by churning out material which is concerned primarily with spirituality and social consciousness.
As many as 21 of his albums have made it onto the Billboard Top Reggae Albums music charts, the highest of them “Words of Truth” reaching the peak position of #5. He has won several nominations for Best International Reggae Artiste of the Year at the MOBO Awards.
Though now domiciled in the international music backwaters of Zimbabwe, Sizzla is expected to maintain his blinding visibility on the worldwide reggae charts and effortlessly sustain his international fan base.
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