She is largely known by the general public as a nudist, the woman who loves to pose naked in front of the camera and in some areas of the society they even call her 'crazy' and 'defiling' the cultural norms of what Zimbabweans ought to be. She has made her name on Instagram and cultivated a following from a society that feels nothing wrong with a kind of art that has been existence for decades and maybe a distraction from the bull's crap that is going on in Zimbabwe.
What a lot have not come to realise is that she is a singer and describes herself as an "all rounder" artist. She has released a lot of music and performed with great artists such as Oliver Mtukudzi and Tanga WekwaSando and I sat down with her to talk about her recent song "Handigone" where she features much loved actor, Leroy Gopal (Yellow Card).
But, what is our culture? She asked me. If it is dynamic, we need to have a change of minds and start accepting certain aspects of the broader society. The Global Village phenomenon has largely been accepted in parts and rejected in few. What Vimbai expresses through her art is slowly being accepted and as she grows, so too is her fan base all around the world.
Vimbai grew up an orphan, fearing being beaten up. Was insecure and unsatisfied with who she is and always felt like the things she did were never good enough. From being called names and described as "Kane mashavi" (Being possessed).
She could have been a musician at an early stage but the words people spoke about her would have almost stopped her drive.
"I had so much people saying that it cant and it won't work. I was afraid to open any door.."
Her break came when she got the chance to worked with Oliver Mtukudzi. It made her realise that she needed to get out of her shell. In so doing she sought herself out and created a few albums which she describes as "very confused". There were a mixture of genres and she struggled to get a grip on what kind of an artist she was and wanted to become.
It has never been easy for any artist starting out in the world. Everything always seems hard to do whereas when you are up and flying, with resources at you disposal it is like a walk in the park.
In the new video, Vimbai Zimuto gets personal. She describes her brand new song as an invitation to lovers during a period such as COVID to get very intimate. It's a message that she thinks has not been spread enough as people have been too concentrated on the bad side to the whole pandemic.
Never mind the steaming hot scenes in the video, it is actually not a badly put together song. The sound reminded me instantly of Sade Adu and the mbira was so gracefully included in the whole thing and is distinctly a Zimbabwe sound. I would have loved to hear more verses on the song but hey, that's just me and my cast in stone thinking of what a song should sound like. It is also could be a whole lot of hogwash but then again, you reading this will know that my opinion really doesn't matter in this discussion and so I asked her about it.
Her response was that there were actually two verses and that she didn't want to put more than enough content on the song as it was a slow jam already. She was looking more at maintaining the general feeling of relaxation from the song as opposed to burdening it with lyrics.
One can be silly to think of any female artist who does not use her sex appeal to sell records or gain a following in today's world. The two are tethered together, like "white on rice" as they say and I guess when you work towards it, it could prove to be a great asset!