The turnout of fans to ‘Soldier’ Lucius Banda’s shows on the local scene when launching his latest album, Thank You, recently has earned him and his Zembani Band a chance to perform in South Africa later this month.
‘Soldier’ will take with him Sam Simakweli, Limbani Dube and budding artist Nepman on the tour that will take the band to entertainment venues in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria.
The 12-member contingent leaves the country on Wednesday, 26 August for three shows spanning across two weekends before their return on September 7.
In an interview on Wednesday, Banda confirmed that the tour is an invitation they just could not afford to turn down; adding they are geared to mesmerise South Africa.
The entrance fee has been hiked to R150 (about K6 000) from the usual R100 (K4 000) per head, according to Banda.
“The deal is lucrative, though I can’t disclose the details. There was no way we could have turned them down. It’s Massive Entertainment Company we are talking about and in entertainment circles; they are one of best promotion firms,” he said, adding that the promoting agency is said to have been “shocked” by the turnout he commanded during his previous performance in the rainbow nation.
Said Banda: “Nobody gave us a chance when we performed the last time, but it happened that the place filled up as early as nine [o’clock] in the morning and basically, that’s what convinced the promoters. It also proves that we have a growing fan base there.”
Zembani is set to perform at Booysen Hotel in Johannesburg for the corporate world on August 28. A day later, they will perform at Marafika in Pretoria in a show the artist says will mainly target the youth. The tour will be concluded by a family fiesta at Pruna in Cape Town the following weekend. n
