The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
ANDY Muridzo’s manager, Gift Petro, has accused his camp of relaxing and depending too much on their stable, Military Touch Movement, which is owned by Jah Prayzah.
Petro was speaking exclusively to The Sunday Mail Leisure following a near disastrous outing at the 7 Arts Theatre in Avondale when they launched their latest album, “Tichambotenderera”.
Muridzo joined Jah Prayzah’s camp at the end of January with promises of a boost in visibility and increased resources to enhance his brand and career. However, Muridzo’s subdued album launch recently, has proved to be a wakeup call for the camp.
“We relaxed and depended too much on Military Touch Movement (MTM) to carry us through ahead of our album launch,” said Petro.
Petro admitted the launch was marred by astonishing levels of disorder. In fact, it was as if Muridzo’s camp just woke up and stormed the 7 Arts Theatre without putting enough time into planning their big night as their programme was disjointed throughout the launch.
“When we plan things, at times not everything goes according to plan. In the case of our album launch we had a number of hiccups but the main agenda was to release it (album) and that being our primary objective, I can boldly declare that the launch was a success as we managed to achieve our goal.
“We expected too much from MTM and yet they had very little time to initiate any plans considering we had already set the date for the album release and had completed most tracks on the album by the time we then got signed to MTM,” added Petro. Petro defended the complete overshadowing of their brand by Jah Prayzah’s PR machine. There were no banners in sight to show that this was an Andy Muridzo album launch. Yet there were several banners advertising brand Jah Prayzah.
“The issue of lack of branding at the launch has been a major talking point in the arts circles and let me take this opportunity to clear it. Firstly, any corporate that backs Jah Prayzah, does so only for Jah Prayzah as a brand not the entire MTM. People have to appreciate that and have to understand that MTM is still a growing brand and currently has no cooperate backing. “Secondly, like I said earlier, there was little time for MTM to initiate any plan considering that by the time Andy Muridzo got signed to the label, we had already set the launch date and the album was almost complete with nine songs already complete.
“Thirdly, people should give Andy time to grow. He is still rising and once he has the clout to lure big numbers, corporates will come on board,” explained Petro.
Some have argued that instead of rushing to the 7 Arts Theatre, Andy should have opted for a smaller and central venue.
Said Petro: “Initially the plan was to have the album launch at Jazz 24/7. We had already gotten a good deal with the venue and other promoters who were willing to sponsor banners and other advertising materials.
“However, the new arrangement we had with MTM saw us shifting venues to accommodate the other artistes in the label and also to get us thinking big and not to be just confined to the same space always.” Seeing that a lot of compromises were made to accommodate MTM, which ultimately did not do much work to make noise about the day; is this not a threat to the Muridzo brand?
“We have clear contractual agreements with MTM. Let me hasten to say that Andy Muridzo and Jeetaz Band are a standalone entity just as Jah Prayzah and Third Generation Band.
“So there will be no threat to Andy’s brand now or in the future. If Andy has been booked already and MTM gets a show, we will not attend because we will be fulfilling our obligations to our clients as the Jeetaz band,” highlighted Petro.
The new album though good, is just an extension of the Jah Prayzah sound; will this continue to be Andy’s trend going forward?
“Andy Muridzo is slowly finding his way now. Soon he will switch from sounding like Jah Prayzah and develop his own flair. Look at an artiste like Tongai Moyo, he started off sounding like Leonard Dembo, but with time he evolved and that is the same path Andy has taken,” said Petro.
