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The Sports Diner in Harare holds an Urban Grooves night every Thursday. This has been an on and off event since December 2004. Every so often it's worth being there, but more and more this weekly show- like the music genre it promotes- is becoming a dull, uncreative and unentertaining affair.
70% Local Content As Urban Grooves became widely recognised as a genre of music in 2003 it was supported by the introduction of the 70% local content policy by the government, spearheaded by the then minister of Information & Publicity, Jonathan Moyo. The policy created a big demand for local music as DJs who had hitherto relied heavily on international music, sought to meet their quota. This meant that even poor quality music got airplay.  The policy had the positive effect of encouraging local artists to produce more music. A lot of junk was churned out and quickly forgotten as it faded away to make way for newer music that flooded the market. As will happen when you have lots of creative effort, every so often gems are created.
Groups and artists like 2BG, David Chifunyise, Roy & Royce, M'afriq, Rockford “Rocqui” Josphats (who later changed his stage name name to Roki), The SHAPE Zimbabwe Family, Xtra Large, Maskiri, Sebede, Cammellitta and Double Trouble were among those that came to the fore. Stables like Chamhembe and Sunshine Studios churned out a string of hits using very low budgets. Young people around the country came alive with inspiration & used what meagre resources they had to produce some of the most beautiful music to come out of that time. Songs like M'afriq's Ndichakuudza Sei, Roki's Suzanna, Xtra Large's Maroja, Tererai's Waenda and Betty & Jamal's Kurwizi competed with songs by Zimbabwe's seasoned musicians for the top spots on the music charts.  Background Struggle
In the background though, things were tough for the Urban Groover's. They struggled to get to live shows on time as they relied on public transport. A case in point was Pauline's of Mafriq's late appearance at the opening of the 2006 Zimbabwe International Film Festival at Avondale. “I’m sorry,” she sheepishly told the crowd, “transport.” Urban Groovers also came under fire for using back tracks during live performances instead of using live bands. Another challenge was that of getting paid reasonable amounts for performances and further to this, selling albums was difficult, as CD burning services around the country- in many times openely advertised- saw an unprecedented proliferation of pirated music. Low Budget A whole industry of young performers and producers with neither the money nor the industry know-how to sustain themselves was born. I remember visiting talented producer, Tatenda “Take 5” Jenami in 2005 and being shocked that the studio that had produced the chart topping tracks on the first (and later on the second) Chambembe compilation was a small room in his mother's house that had been modified to do the job. Everything was put together on a struggling computer and a mixing desk that had seen much better days. A plethora of national galas and concerts held all over the country to commemorate events such as Heroes' Day, National Unity Day and Independence Day that were nationally televised increased the visibility of these young new artists and their genre.
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You wouldn't know raw talent if it hit you in the face!
