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By Tawanda Matanhire
She rose to prominence through Winky D’s Mugarden, a song whose beautiful video concept left many in awe.
Since then, she has blossomed like the blooming flowers in the Mugarden video – becoming a recognisable voice in Zimbabwe and abroad.
Winky D surely hit the jackpot – the song was number one on BBC Afrobeat charts soon after its release and it dominated airwaves in Zimbabwe and gave the artist an entryway into greater Africa.
But Gemma Griffiths, the featured artist, appears to have struck gold as this signaled her entrance into the mainstream Zimbabwean music industry. Many wondered though if she would live up to the level of Mugarden.
Today, there is no doubt, Gemma is up there – she has continued to blossom. Just a week ago she released a single, +263, featuring Nutty O and Asaph. It is a love song, a musical experience.
Speaking to Nhau, Gemma’s manager Taponeswa Mavunga said this is yet another song that proves that her artist has a lot to offer.
“She has managed to live up to expectations on every song that she has worked on and will continue to give her fans good music,” said Mavunga.
“Both Nutty O and Asaph are wonderful guys we’ve all become good friends through music. Both artists brought such fire to the track, and it was such a blast working together. The weekend of the video shoot, we all spent a lot of time together, hanging out both on and off set.”
Award-winning star, Nutty O, said Gemma invited him to work on the song after she had already worked on the chorus and he simply delivered his verse.
“Gemma is the owner of the song. She brought the chorus and her own verse and everybody delivered a verse,” the Vroom hitmaker said.
“She saw that I was fit for what she had pictured and brought me on board and it was great working with her on the project.”
Bring more diversity to the song was Asaph, who delivered his own verse in isiNdebele.
The song also showed that Gemma is versatile and has assumed her own identity. From working with Asaph and Nutty O to Winky D and Chillspot Family – the Ndinewe singer is proving to be solid.
She also did a remix of the song Ndinewe collaborating with Tanzanian Singer Linex and Barakah and the remix is doing well across the continent.
“Working on the Ndinewe remix with Linex and Barakah The Prince was so much fun. Although we were separated geographically due to Covid-19, we definitely felt very close to them.”
Said Mavunga about Chillspot: “Chillspot is such an important studio for Zimbabwe. So many big tracks in Zimbabwe have come out of that studio. I absolutely love the guys at Chillspot. We just vibe really well together, and they have such an easy-going flow.”
She hinted that more projects in the pipeline.
After completing High School in Zimbabwe, Gemma travelled to Snow College in The USA to study commercial music composition.
From 2016 to 2018 Gemma spent some time performing in Cape Town, South Africa, where she did shows with South African artists such as Freshly Ground, Jimmy Nevis, Majozi, Goodluck and Matthew Mole.
Gemma continued working closely with Zimbabwean musicians whilst in Cape Town, sharing the stage at the Kirstenbosch Summer Concerts with one of Zimbabwe’s top artists – Jah Prayzah, as well as with the late Zimbabwean legend Oliver Mtukudzi at Artscape Theatre.
She made regular trips back to Zimbabwe to perform, particularly the Harare International Festival of the Arts, Miombo Magic and Shoko.
He local fan base grew with lightning speed through her live performances. In 2018, Gemma moved her base back to Harare.
With a large Zimbabwean following in the UK, Gemma travelled to London to headline ZIMFEST in 2015 and again in 2019. Nhau/Indaba
