Award-winning musician Makhadzi shut down the annual Phalaphala Royal Heritage Festival with her grand entrance and hour-long show.
The festival took place at the weekend at Nandoni Dam, Thohoyandou in Limpopo after a hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Born Ndivhudzannyi Ralivhona, Makhadzi managed to keep her head above water after woes with her record label, and is now reaping fruits of her labour in the form of a new album.
She has been dropping singles from the new album, mbofholowo.
She announced on her socials that she was dropping the album this coming Friday, which she said she put her heart and soul into.
At the announcement of the line-up a few months ago, Makhadzi shared that the festival gave her a big break into the industry.
During her performance, she performed using a wheelchair, which she will be donating to those who are in need.
However, as a journalist the experience of it all for the media was not good, but that was nothing new, as there were reports of the media not being treated well previously.
As if being welcomed by dust and several tedious security checks were not enough, the playlist at the festival was nothing close to royalty.
From one DJ to another, it sounded no different from a shuffled playlist from Spotify on a free subscription offering.
Given Makhadzi’s newly announced ambassadorship with the streaming service’s Equal Africa platform, it would not be surprising that the songs playing from start to finish across all kinds of music genres are actually streamed.
Despite this, we tried to have as much fun as possible in the parking lot.
From 7pm to 10pm, we waited to be given access to the artists’ marquee, where we’d ideally get the full experience of the festival.
When Makhadzi finally got on stage for her much-anticipated performance though, we were at least in the general VIP area with no access to artists or the stage.
However, it was by luck and favour that we got in and because of that, we did not even get any hospitality from anyone, even though the organisers knew we’d be coming all week.
The locals and those that came out in numbers for the festival, however, enjoyed themselves.
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