Journalist Malaba salutes Winky D
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The Gafa!
Winky D’s lyrical mastery is the stuff of legend. But in his new anthemic hit, Ibotso, the Gafa reminds us why his amazing artistry is without peer. Winky D is the incorruptible voice of a shattered generation: poverty-stricken citizens who have no jobs, no dignity, no hope.
Zimbabwe is a crime scene. Corruption-induced poverty has unleashed devastating poverty on ghetto youths. Hunger has ensnared naive girls into a life of debauchery. There are artistes who conveniently choose to ignore these stark realities. Winky D has set himself apart.
In Ibotso, he lays bare the ugly underbelly of a long-decayed society which foolishly hides beneath a threadbare cloak of self-denial, in the forlorn hope of swiftly waking up from a prolonged nightmare. Where delusion meets deceit, victims abound.
The Gafa chants: “Vanotora zvevapfupi nekureba”. What comes next is epic. Holy 10, his eager apprentice, then intones: “Sekutamba sekuseka”. From that point on, the flow is infectious, irresistible, delectable.
Winky D is fully alive to the dangers of singing truth to power. Deploying idiom, he pleads: “I’m only a singer. I wield neither spear nor sword; please spare my life.” Echoes of George Orwell: “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”
Winky D is among a few Zimbabwean artistes who have openly, through their projects, condemned maladministration and the shrinking democratic space in the country.