Zimdancehall dreams: the back yard studios helping Harare get heard
Last modified on Mon 3 May 2021 09.08 EDT Inside a grimy flat in Mbare, Zimbabwe’s oldest township in the capital Harare, about 10 young musicians nervously rehearse their lyrical chants as they wait to be called into the recording booth. Many celebrated musicians in Zimbabwe have been born out of this old flat. For those here now, this is their one shot at stardom, or at least a future in music. One by one, they go in to sing under the watchful eye of Arnold Kamudyariwa, a popular dancehall producer known as DJ Fantan, who often stops those singing off-key. In a sea of poverty, drugs, unem...