The Gaborone International Convention Centre (GICC) on Thursday came alive with a show that many had been waiting for.
City slickers of Gaborone were treated to a performance of a lifetime by South African sensation, Zahara Mkutukane.
Before Zahara‘s performance, local acts took to the stage and set it ablaze with their well-rehearsed live performances.
Eugene Jackson had the honours of opening the show. He was later joined by Zeus, BK Proctor and Juju Boy who took turns to grace the stage with Eugene.
The show then proceeded to a family affair for the Jackson’s as Eugene performed a number with his guitarist father Clement Jackson, who electrified the audience with some sizzling sounds from his guitar. Eugene then took the stage with his sister Helen and they performed their hit song, Owame, in which they act as lovers.
The Women of Jazz took over the stage from the Jackson’s in style and maintained the vibe already set up by those performing before them. Clad in different coloured dresses, Punah in green, Nnunu in pink and Kearoma in blue, the ladies were brought on stage lifted by muscle men.
The three ladies each performed songs from their albums. The audience was exhilarated when Punah performed her classic, O rile o a Nyala, which proved to still be close to their hearts.
The last act on stage before Zahara took the stage was Shanti Lo, who, as usual, did not disappoint with both his performance and outfit. He performed with the Swede Anna Christopherson who was also part of the lineup.
Shanti Lo did not leave the stage before performing his signature song, Ditshwanelo, which is part and parcel of his every performance.
Then Zahara took the stage, opening with her song, Xa Bendigena Mama, and the audience went wild. Some of those who were sitting at the back advanced to the stage to get a better view of the songstress.
Holding her signature afro with a yellow-green turban and clad in a maroon dress with a blue belt, Zahara took her guitar and performed Destiny. The singer then performed Umthwalo and Thekwana, which are both slow and emotional songs.
It is when she sang one of her popular songs in the album Incwad’encane that the audience shot up, charged close to the stage and started dancing and singing along.
Zahara responded to the audience’s energy and dropped some amusing dance moves, clearly enjoying doing her thing on stage.
She then performed Guitar before moving to the ‘national anthem’, Loliwe, much to the appreciation of those in attendance.
As she was about to leave the stage, the audience started chanting “we want more” and Zahara obliged and performed Brand New Day, which was her closing song for the evening.
The audience, who obviously wanted more, were left still watching and waiting by the stage as if waiting for Zahara to come back on stage and give them one more last performance before calling it a night.
