Sometime last year, South African songbird Zahara, known for her song ‘Loliwe’, contemplated moving abroad because she felt Africa no longer appreciated her talent.

In an era where artistes are made in studios, artistes with real talent find themselves competing with talentless musicians who all they need is a good producers to churn out hit after hit, getting big shows, while truly gifted artistes have to play catch up or even getting frustrated.

Such is the feeling Zahara has been battling with to the extent of considering leaving her home country.

However the star, real names, Bulelwa Mkutukana, who prefers to describe herself as a “village girl from South Africa”, might need to rethink her decision if her recent performance in Kigali is anything to go by.

Tears of joy

Zahara graced the May edition of the Kigali Jazz Junction last Friday and boy oh boy, she left her audience mesmerised and in return, she got back all the love she deserved.

Multitudes of her fans joined her on stage to sing her songs and she couldn’t help but cry tears of joy throughout the performance.

Her performance was interrupted several times as her fans, mostly women, walked on the stage to hug her. The hugs were long and real.

When she had just started performing “Loliwe”, almost towards the end of her performance, Zahara was surprised by her fan, Faith Uwantege, who presented her with a special gift. The South African singer could not hold back tears.

“I love Zahara so much. She is my favourite singer,” said Uwantege despite not understanding the meaning of most of her songs which are in Xhosa, her native language.

“I love her for the talent and passion. Her songs are inspiring too,” added Uwantege, who also got an opportunity to share the stage with the singer and belt out some of her songs –something she normally does on Karaoke nights in Kigali and Musanze where she lives.

Towards the end of her performance, Zahara said that she was told that there are many ladies, the ‘Karaoke Queens’ who religiously perform her songs during Karaoke sessions and asked them to join her on stage.

High turn up

Led by Carolyn “Carol-Ok” Nderitu, the pioneer of Karaoke in Kigali, the ladies overwhelmed Zahara when they perfectly sung her songs perfectly well and the ‘Umsebenzi Wam' singer could only sit on the stage and sob, overwhelmed by love.

The marque at Kigali Serena Hotel was filled to the brim as organisers struggled to accommodate everyone who turned up.

But if anything must be mentioned, it is the fact that the show was worth the hype and the money. 30-year old Zahara proved why she is considered one of the most talented artistes on the continent.

The humble yet powerful artiste sang, played the guitar and danced, prancing around the stage with impressive footwork reminiscent of traditional South African dances.

She is more than just a musician, in between the almost 2-hour performance, she paused the music to interact with the audience.

She talked about her earlier experience at the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre and expressed appreciation of the steps Rwanda has made to rebuild herself.

It appeared that she had taken time to rehearse with the resident Neptunez Band as they fused pretty well.

Dress code

Her dress code was also a fusion of Rwanda and South Africa, wrapping one part of the Rwandan tradition wear ‘Umushanana’ over her dress –a thing that appealed to the audience.

The Eastern Cape born artiste unleashed the most powerful vocals and skills on the guitar as sung some of her songs including Ndiza, Thembalam, Umsebenzi Wam, Incwand’encane and the most popular of her songs Loliwe. She closed her memorable performance with Phendula.

Earlier before Zahara, one of Rwanda’s underrated artistes Social Mula to do the opening act. The ‘Umuturanyi’ singer has some of the most popular songs in Rwanda but he is yet to hit the big time –a thing many blame on lack of management.

Kick off

Social Mula kicked of his performance with his 2012 breakout hit “Abanya Kigali” –a song about two village lovebirds taking a trip to Kigali to have a taste of ‘city life’, only for them to end up apart as ‘city boys’ lured away the girl, forcing the rural boy to head back to the village alone.

“Social Mula’s songs always touch my heart. I relate to them but it is difficult to understand why he has never made a major breakthrough,” says Divine Rusaro, a diehard Social Mula fan.

The singer performed most of his songs including Kundunduro, Humura, Amahitamo, Umuturanyi and crowned it with “Superstar”— a song which currently featuring on most playlists, whether it is in clubs or radio stations.

The show ended at around 1:10am and as the crowd exited the venue, there was a sense of satisfaction, with many expressing anticipation over the next guest artiste at Kigali Jazz Junction. Nigerian star Simi is expected to grace the June edition.