Sungura outfit, Adequate Sounds were on Saturday crowned winners of the 2016 Chibuku Road to Fame finals at the Glamis Arena.

The energetic crew from Budiriro outclassed nine other bands from Zimbabwe’s 10 provinces to walk away as the ultimate winners earning themselves a recording contract as well as pocketing the cash prize of $7 000.

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After having failed to scoop the top prize last year, the band did not lose hope but kept perfecting their craft for a full year. With a well-polished act this time around, the eight member group managed to win it.

In second position was the Afro fusion group from Masvingo, Wood Packers whilst Mashonaland Centrals, RJ Zvavapachena took third place and they walked $5000 and $3000 richer, respectively.

Kudos to Delta Beverages for continuing to support local art through such initiatives in a country where most cooperates shy away from investing in the creative industry.

However, it was disappointing to see that most of the groups that competed were staging some very shoddy performances.

Simple things like maintaining key whilst singing for lead vocalists, time for the drummers and coming up with rich songs lyrically and musically were not met – it was shocking to believe this was a national final.

When Adequate Sounds performed as the sixth group on the day, it was obvious that they would land a spot in the top two because their act was very solid, choreography was well thought-out and they were the only group that got the crowd to cheer and dance along throughout their entire set.

For the rest of the crews, the crowd would be chilled out in the shade or busy sipping on some cool Chibuku Super whilst having a banter with their friends.

In future, there is need for competing groups to raise the standard of their work.

Instead of the masses coming through to party with the big stars who will be billed to perform after the competitions are done, if the standard of artistry displayed improves people will actually come through to watch this new talent.

The day was capped by some superb performances from the likes of Alick Macheso, Romeo Gasa and Winky D.