Winky D

Winky D is a Zimbabwean Reggae–Dancehall artist, also known to his fans as "The Poor People Devotee" or "The Big Man".

Biography

Winky D is one man who has lyrics that will continue inspiring you long after the track has stopped playing. His emotionally charged lyrics are the opposite of his soft spoken and sociable personality. He is the kind of person whom one would not hesitate to spend the whole day chatting to. His ghetto schooling was a prophetic reflection of the powerful lyrics which have become his life. He is armed with a hunger for educating the people about the group of people very much taken for granted and life taken for a joke. On the other hand, his love lyrics inspire people to love others truly, for what they are not reflections of their images of what they want them to be.

Basically, my drive is that malnourished child, that man who is angry at whoever made plastic sneakers which became torn after being worn for a week, that teenager who is abusing drugs and other harmful substances, girl listening to the voices of peer pressure and suddenly engages in 'DARK ' activities

In our youthful days we always impatiently look forward to the days when we will be grown ups. Different people have differing views concerning what it means to be a grown up. Many point at being 'independent of my parents and community in whatever I do'. However, the above is not true for Winky D, who ever since his youthful days felt that this concept of independence was overemphasised very much to the expense of significant others in our lives. In the ghetto he feels independence should mean 'having a loving heart for all the others'. This mindset is greatly shown in his powerful lyrics. Negligence of these others will lead to 'continuation of problems inherent in the ghetto like prostitution, robbery, thuggery, poverty, to mention but a few. This guiding principle is one distinctive feature about Winky D's lyrics.

Born Wallace Chirumiko on 1 February 1983 in Harare, Winky D always showed a lively interest in music ever since his childhood years as the mother confirms. He, very much unusual for ghetto youths at this age strived to keep a collection of Ragga audio tapes as early as Grade 3. Winky D started featuring in the GHETTO LANE CLASHES against elderly contestants, and his victories in these contests came as a result of his skill at selecting the best dancehall tunes. This earned him great respect amongst the Ghetto youths who gave him the nickname Winky D from Wicked Deejay.

At secondary school came another boost for the talents of Winky D, when he was nominated by his colleagues to play music at all school functions. This led to a sober appreciation of Winky's musical talents by his elder brother, Wellington who volunteered to buy him CDs and vinyls if he started a sound. He started off as Supa Youths with a friend, but due to the friend's continued absence because of school commitments, Winky collaborated with Garry B, another friend to form Dark Child. Winky D became the first school kid to play at the popular Tube Nite Spot at the tender age of 16. He clashed with big names in Dancehall like Alkebulani, New Generation, Shocking Vibes and Delta Force. He won several of these clashes and in no time Winky was a force to reckon with in the dancehall industry.

In 2002 Winky D won the prestigious Sports Centre Cup Clash hosted by the big name in dancehall Jah B of Stereo One . In the same year Winky D earned a contract to play at Club Tropicana (Dancehall Segments) Much to the surprise of people Winky D hosted the above-mentioned Cup clash in 2003 alongside Rough Mix's Templeman. In the same year Winky D thrashed the seasoned champion sound, Silverstone, after which he revived the Ghetto VS Ghetto sound wars to help boost the dancehall skills of other Ghetto youths. His voice, unlike the voices of other MC's as people noticed was worthy of loads of praise than mere admiration. There was a golden side to it, which led people to encourage Winky D to try his voice at singing. However, this was no new field to Winky D as he said' l had written so many songs as I was growing up. With the help of Bonslag of BlackLab Records, Winky went into the recording studio. His first songs in the dancehall like Chamba, Zhing Zhong, Zvindakwenya, Kumbudzi, Mu Rasta, The Don & Head Inna War coupled by his ingenious stage performance set the dance floors very busy and the single was reviewed in the national weekly, SundayMail. Ever since Winky D has not turned back, we have seen Winky being invited to present Rockers Vibes, (a musical programme) on Zimbabwe national television, ZTV. Winky D has become the new icon for Zimbabwean reggae with nicknames like, “King of Dancehall”, “The Prophet”, “Mutumwa”, "The Poor People Devotee", "The Big Man" and “Truthsayer” being attached to him in the ghettos.

Partial discography

"WAR"

* "War"
* "Head Ina War"
* "Take A Run"
* "Nuh Talk"
* "Where you come from"

"The Devotee"

* "Babylon"
* "Battle for the future"
* "Dem no wrong"
* "The Ghetto"
* "The Night"
* "Down ina the ghetto"
* "For the benjamins"
* "Gal Dem Plenty"
* "Ghetto Sufferation"
* "Ina the dark"
* "Make Up your mind"
* "No life in bed"
* "Nuh Like it"
* "The way you feel"
* "Thiefing pastor"

ingles

External links

* [http://www.winkyd.co.zw/index.html Home page]
* [http://www.blacklabrecords.com/home/findartist.html Artists Page] (BlackLab Records)
* [http://www.blacklabrecords.com/home/_extras/videos/rasta_medley.mov Winky D video] - Winky D's first video
* [http://www.zimvibes.com Zimbabwe Music Vibes]

ee also

* Afropop
* Chimurenga
* Mbira
* Music of Zimbabwe
* Shona music