Langalakhe Mabena
Don’t scatter flowers when he is dead, give him while he can still smell them!
He has been visible in the local music scene for twenty-seven years, and one of the pioneers of Urban Grooves music in the country Ex Q, real name Enock Munhenga, is set to receive the most decorated award in his lifetime.
According to a close source who is part of the judges’ panel at the National Arts Merit Awards (Nama), Ex Q who is turning 40 years this year, will be bestowed with a Lifetime Achievement Awards at a ceremony set for 25 February at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC).
The Nhema hitmaker will then hold the record as the youngest creative to be honoured with such an accolade in the history of the Namas.
Ex Q rose to fame in 2000 after releasing his hit song Musalala, which was one of the tunes that pioneered Urban Grooves.
Some of the singles that made him a force to reckon with during an era where the likes of Extra Large, Roki and Tererai Mugwadi to mention a few, were the real big boys in the game, include Pandakakuona, Ndichakutevera, Mazirudo and Tezvara Varamba.
His stranglehold on the music scene was fuelled by the then Minister of Information Professor Jonathan Moyo (early 2000s) who introduced a policy of promoting local music over foreign packages.
The muso has five full-length-albums including Exquisite (2005), Love is my Religion (2007), Grown and Sexy (2008), Mr Urban Grooves (2012), Tseu Tseu (April 2018) and Verified Milestone (2021) which was released under Jah Prayzah’s Military Touch Movement (MTM) stable.
Ex Q has groomed and given many young talents a chance to shine in the game with the new age crop of creatives being Nutty O, DJ Tamuka, Tammy Moyo and Gemma Griffiths.
