Ever woke up feeling like some people are too good to be Zimbabwean? Get us right, this is not an inferiority complex or any other fancy worded mental condition. These are people who are proficient in their line of work but have not been properly recognised for a long time.
#ENTHUSE compiled the list of people it feels are some of the most gifted yet underappreciated list of Zimbabweans. If they were in any other country things would be way better for them but they are in Zimbabwe and the least we can do is confer an apology.
1. Reverb 7
Pic: Proud Zimbo
The ever smiling Dj has been headlining events, fair enough but if this landlocked country was by chance called Netherlands, he would be filling up arenas. Not only because his mixes can make you appreciate a lousy song but because if there is a person who can be used to describe creative disk jockeying, Reverb would be an easy pick. Zimbabwe has a lot of good virtual dj abusers who can get away with syncing hit songs with the same tempo. Name-calling is not professional but I am sure you have had a personnel shift on the decks becoming your cue to leave the club. Not with Reverb though, for these and other abilities we say SORRY to the man who devotes his time to ruining our dancing shoes.
2. Ralph Chikambi
Pic: POVO Afrika
A storyteller with a sharp eye for stories that surround us but we overlook. By looking at his work, it is easy to imagine that he exists in a different dimension and appears intermittently to grace us with his captures which we clearly do not deserve. Never before has a Zimbabwean story been told with a perfectly assorted cocktail of honesty and humility. Most of his photography speaks to the realities of the average person in the country, from the street vendor to the roadside labourer. Although undeclared, you can identify the Africanism of his work and again, we feel that the man is not celebrated enough in his country of birth. We look forward to his Instagram updates and on very few occasions has his work left us without silly grins signalling appreciation. Mr Chikambi Sir, if you reading this WE APOLOGIZE and appreciate your work.
3. Sylent Nqo
Pic: Twitter
Also known as the Guitar Sangoma by the thousands he has serenaded. The versatile guitarist has electric fingers (not sure if this is an existing phrase, but we just wanted to invent something to measure up with the rhythms he churns out whenever he is on stage.) Barely clothed in exclusive stage rig, Sylent is a band on his own. Nqo scooped the Senior Grand Champion of the World Instrumentalists division gold medal plus another gold for original works and silver in his division at the finals. I decided Zimbabweans didn’t deserve him when there were cases of body shaming that made him go on a rant on Instagram last year. Others respect their stars but in this country of ours, the opposite is sadly common practice. It is with this in my mind that we apologize to Sylent for being what we are, Zimbabweans.
4. Daniel Chingoma
Pic: YouTube
For good measure we have to throw in the good old Daniel Chingoma. A Jack of all trades: musician, creative, engineer among other magical skills we may not know he has. This man took it upon himself to build a helicopter from scratch, all we could do as a country is ridicule his idea. The least we could have done is help him develop the idea but no, his idea was too audacious for us to fathom. He was ridiculed beyond reproach. I am sure there are a lot of children whose dreams die before they develop because people are around them do not resonate with their vision. There are a lot of Daniel Chingomas out there and sadly the culture shows no sign of receding as many Zimbabweans are turning to bitter analysts with each passing day. At least Daniel continued at being an engineer slash everything else a breathing mortal can be. Our apologies as a country for not being able to fully support, we do that all the time.
With love.
Leroy Dzenga
