SUNGURA kingpin Alick Macheso will hold two concerts in South Africa next month, two months after he called off his 53rd birthday celebratory shows in the same due to Covid-19 restrictions.
Dubbed “Alick Macheso and Orchestra Mberikwazvo South Africa Tour 2021,” tour will see the band perform in Johannesburg and Germiston on October 9 and 10 respectively.
“We are happy to be back on stage after such a long period of time. We continuously pray for God’s intervention in the health sector.
“As usual, we promise nothing but the very best during our tour of South Africa,” Macheso publicist Tichaona Makahamadze told the Daily News.
At New Town Music Factory in Johannesburg, Macheso will be supported by South Africa-based urban groover Nox, Pamela ‘Gonyeti’ Zulu and social media comedian Baba Tencen while at Germiston Lounge he will share the stage with Dino Mudondo.
All his supporting acts are Zimbabweans based in South Africa.
Speaking to the Daily News recently, Macheso reiterated calls for Zimbabweans to be vaccinated to allow for the full reopening of the arts industry after the government partially lifted a ban on the low risk sector.
Macheso went on to paint a sorry picture of how difficult life has been for him, his 27-member band and other musicians over the past two years the entertainment industry has been under suspension owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Things are tight and we are surviving through God’s grace,” Macheso, who is Zimbabwe Red Cross Society humanitarian ambassador, told the Daily News on the side-lines of the humanitarian organisation’s tour of their Covid-19 testing and vaccination centre in Harare.
“We are a 27-member band and we are sharing the little I get from well-wishers. The situation is tight, not just for Orchestra Mberikwazvo but for the entire music sector during the ongoing national lockdowns,” he said.
In Zimbabwe, the authorities put in place a ban on the entertainment sector — considered to be a high risk sector— since last year in March to curb the spread of the deadly pathogen.
As a result, musicians have been forced to look for alternative ways of earning a living. Some have ventured into agriculture, buying and selling and transport business while waiting for the authorities to open the entertainment sector.