Meet Nyasha David – a young Zimbabwean singer/songwriter, hitmaker aka The Advocate of Love. He remarks, “David isn’t my last name, my name is Nyasha David Dengwani. I come from a long line of musicians; art has always been something we use to express ourselves. My big break came in 2015 when I was 2nd runner up on a talent search show called, Dreamstar Zimbabwe. The company that runs the show then signed me as an artist.”
His music influences are, “I have five, 1. Steve Dhongi Makoni- that is the ultimate advocate of love and I am so inspired by him. 2. Leonard Mapfumo – my mentor, my manager – a living legend, a great human being. 3. John Legend – I love the way he delivers his music and he has been a huge influence on my writing and my lyricism. 4. Chris Brown – he has been a major influence in terms of vocal ability, I borrow most of my notes from him and I try as much as I can not to sound like him. 5. Samthing Soweto- there’s something about Samthing Soweto, he’s a genius, amazing.”
From his upcoming debut album, “You can’t expect anything because I’m not giving you any expectations. It’s going to be a surprise, like the recent release, Njenjere totally different sound to what you expect from me, Zimdancehall, I want to extend my artistry and my reach. The album will be full of surprises and I can’t wait for people to hear that.”
When people listen to his music, Nyasha David remarks, “I am The Advocate of Love, so I want to inspire, teach and expand love.” Last year his song, Moyo Muti was played on the popular drama Wadiwa Wepa Moyo. The artist expresses, “That was huge for me I think I got 20k extra views from that. When people of influence are recognising that your music is something we can work with and ask to collaborate, I was like yeah, definitely please do that.”
The lockdown restrictions brought up some opportunities, “The only challenge we are facing is with live shows. When the lockdown started our music started blooming. The lockdown has worked in our favour and we’ve literally digitalised everything.”
The highlights of the singer’s career, “Collaborating with the father of Morgan Heritage, being featured on BBC and having my songs featured on BBC documentaries. The main highlight is going to be my first album, I’ve given it my all and I’m sure it’s going to work out.”
Nyasha David’s favourite collaborators, “I can’t disclose my favourite artists I’ve worked with because all of them are on my album. For producers, I can’t disclose either, but for most of my projects I’ve worked with Kalino and Gabriel Morgan (Golden Fingers). For choreographers, I’ve worked with a vast number of them from, Lynsey Lynn, Kudzanai Kandiwona, Martin, Sean Ace, Sean Mambwere. I think I’ve worked with all the choreographers in the dance fraternity. Videographers I’ve worked with Simba Gee, Blaqs, Croft, basically the whole network of videographers, we’ve worked together and my experience of working with them has been amazing.
There’s a network in the music industry and sharing resources makes the dream work. Anyone who comes up and says we have something good and we would like to work with you, I will work with them. It’s a network and we work together to produce amazing stuff.”
Nyasha’s thoughts on the state of the Zimbabwean music industry, “I believe we have a pool of the most talented people in Africa. The only thing we lack is an infrastructure that promotes the arts. I am happy the cooperates, the ministry and people of influence are realising this and are trying their best to support the artists in Zimbabwe. I believe in the next 5 years Zimbabwe will be dominating the music industry in Africa.”
The hitmaker cites, “There’s no typical studio session for an artist. We don’t sleep we don’t rest. Inspiration comes at any time and when it’s there you’ve got to catch it. Whether its 4 am when you are sleeping or 3 pm or 12 am it doesn’t matter. When the inspiration comes you jump on it and you use it.”
His advice to his younger self is, “You should be you and you should decide who you want to be. You should have what you decide to have, there’s no boundary, so do it.”
The advocate of love’s soundtracks to his life are Felling Good – Nina Simone and Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong. The songs he has been playing the most lately are:
- Mang’Dakiwe – Dj Obza ft. Leon Lee
- Where I Belong – Busta Rhymes ft. Mariah Carey
- Kure Remix – Ishan ft. Enzo Ishall, Killer T, Ti Gonzi, Frya, Dobba Don & Mussa Effect
- Hosana – Black Motion ft. Sun-El Musician & Nobunhle
- Commando – King Promise
To connect with Nyasha David on all social media platforms his handle is NyashaDavidZW. To contact him via call/text his number is +263719421468 and his email is nyashadavidzw@gmail.com.
Nyasha wants to be remembered as “The Advocate of Love. As a person who inspired love among people and who made the world a better place by love inspired actions.”
Thank you for reading, please like, comment and share.
