Zimdance hall introduced

creativity at its best

Zimdancehall is a Zimbabwean type of music not introduced long ago with the genre only reaching the national arena two years back. this type of music has evolved to be a way of living by most Zimbabwean youths which has came up with its negatives and advantages.

many youths now have a source of income,pleasure,communication and identity creation that is powered by this phenomenon. The genre now called Zimdancehall can be traced to Reggae music popular in the Jamaican music circles. Bob Marley and fellow Jamaican artistes became the foundation of Zimdancehall with its style borrowing a lot from Jamaican reggae and ragga genres.

The genesis of Zimdancehall was not until 1980 independance when Bob Marley performed the Zimbabwe song and later emerged in the late 1990s with the emergence of pioneering artistes such as Major E, Booker T and Potato. Most of the pioneer artistes gained very little following. Exceptional cases include Major E and Malvin Sithole who made waves with various collaborations with Innocent Utsiwegota with hits such as "In My Dreams". At this point the genre was still in its infancy. Winky D, King Labash, Badman represented a new crop of artistes who took the genre to a new level with hits like "kukonzeresa" by King Labash and "chaputika" by Winky D. 

It was at this stage that most people began to notice these artistes and they also developed a considerably large following. With the rise of other artistes like Killer T, Soul Jah Love, Freeman, Shinsoman, Zimdancehall became a force to reckon with in the Zimbabwean music circles with the majority of its artistes like the aforementioned becoming household names. Several songs like "mawaya waya" by Shinso, "tirikumhanya" by Killer T, "musarova bigman" by Winky D became instant sing alongs and established the Zimdancehall genre among other local genres like sungura. The artistes even rose to international prominence with the likes of Lady Squanda, Freeman among others holding shows in countries like the United Kingdom and Australia.

Considering the high levels of unemployment, this music genre is said to offer a chance of generating income to the urban youth who often fall victim to social ills like drug abuse, prostitution and violent crime. Not only does it offer an outlet for the artistes themselves but to the many backyard studio owners whose enterprises have sprouted in and around many ghettos in Zimbabwe and are estimated to be numbering about 600 in total. Notwithstanding the financial returns that are realised by the stakeholders in the industry, Zimdancehall has also been credited for raising awareness on everyday issues that affect society like the maladministration of local government. The song by Spiderman castigates the city council for causing water borne diseases while another one by Jiggaz laments the economic hardships in the country by stating that money is never enough for the ordinary man.