What I’ve always known is the transfixing power of Eve Kawadza’s voice over an Afro-Jazz inspired saxophone, what I was yet to learn was was her new found and well-accepted skills as a DJ. Eve Kawadza came to popularity in 2011 having grown her performance skills on Open Mic stages at the Book Cafe Harare. Now she hosts solo shows in spaces like the Old Mutual Theatre at Alliance Francaise. Ever dolled up on stage during her live performances; often in an elaborate frock, it would probably take a lot of convincing to believe that weekly Eve will now be dropping some heavy riddims via a Facebook Live Mix.
Speaking to #ENTHUSE, Eve detailed her DJ journey,
“I started in October 2017 and l haven’t looked back. Am teaching myself how to do it so with time it will get better. My DJ name is Empress Eve. I love music so much and l have always wanted to be a DJ so l was like why not just go ahead and do it”, she explained.
No, Eve is not leaving Jazz lovers heavy-hearted, nor is she leaving her ‘EK’ design line behind, this 29-year-old to be is adamant she could live the best of both worlds, a songbird by day and rugged Dancehall femme DJ by night with every intention of managing both brands by working on each of them separately. Although Eve is not yet the Dancehall DJ maverick she aspired to be, she’s not letting that discourage her.
“Anything you want to achieve is possible only if you make a decision to start doing it. You don’t have to wait to be perfect, just give it a shot and you will learn along the way and get better with time”, she said.
Granted, a crossover from Jazz to Zim Dancehall is not a feat that’s regularly witnessed. Eve grew up in the high-density suburb of historical proportions called Mbare in Harare where the subject matter of the genre reflects the familiarity of her upbringing.
“I love Zimdancehall music because l can relate to it. Story of my life. l am from Mbare and that genre is popular there as well”
Zimdancehall Fridays presented by DJ Empress Eve is dedicated to strictly Zimdancehall music every Friday at 1 PM CAT and offers a chance for Eve to play some lesser know local ZimDanchall artists.
“there are a lot of artists who are very talented but not known so the Zimdancehall Fridays are sessions that are dedicated to promoting the genre so that people get to know about it, learn and enjoy it” she said as we concluded our chat.
You can check out Emperess Eve’s Facebook Page here
