Now approaching 2 years of existence, Haus Of Gumeni ranks amongst the most anticipated Afro house events on Harare's social calendar. Intermittently hosted at Emagumeni Helensvale throughout the year, the house event is graced by some of the best DJing talent around. As 2024 came to a close, the event hosted its most ambitious edition yet. A house music rave from sunset to sunrise.
While New Year's Eve would've certainly been the perfect occasion to pull this off, the last Sunday of December felt as good a day as any. Boasting of a lineup of 14 acts: Mimi, The Black Arab, DJ Chrxn, Young DLC, Shaku Chantè, TAPIWA, Djembe Monks, Jay, Samuel Cosmic, Niina, Halu, Ace Frvr, Wowrae and Langton B, with the added caviar of cooler boxes being allowed at the gate, it seemed destined to succeed. After all house is the music of the gods and a cooler box is a Harare man's one true soulmate.
Emagumeni's curation presented us with 14 hours of melodic navigation on the decks, running from 2 pm until 4 am with something for everyone throughout the night. My only bone to pick (more with Afro house events in general than Haus Of Gumeni) would be Mimi's placement as opener, I come from a long line of ancestors who didn't use clocks and I often find myself missing her sets.
On this occasion I arrived as Young DLC stepped up to the decks, accompanied by a number of popular Afro tech and gqom laden selections. His 2024 single "Rules In Africa" and an unreleased remix of Kayflow's "VIP Kana Mbombera" being personal favourites amongst them. While his transitions felt somewhat abrupt, Young DLC's selections were almost always embraced by the audience.
Now although the decks tried to sabotage her, Shaku Chantè gave us an hour long serenade of amapiano and 3-step. Hard hitting bass lines were now replaced by soul stirring melodies and an orchestra of drums.
Standing out amongst the track IDs being MÖRDA & Brenden Praise's "Bl3551ng5, Murumba Pitch, Oscar Mbo & Omit ST's "Umoya," and Dlala Thukzin's "Sohlala Sisonke."
While the atmosphere was great on it's own, also present at Haus Of Gumeni was the combination of artistry and community that's central to Afro house. Nothing more being evidence of this than Zim hip hop Awards Best Journalist nominee, Dennis Shoko exclamation "Ah! That guy who was being nice to everyone is a DJ?" as TAPIWA kicked off his set.
As the rain fell with a gentle patter, he would provide my favourite moment of the night, as he played Que DJ & DJ Lag's "Where Is Your Father?" and strangers, now acquaintances in revelry turned about and posed the question to each other.
From TAPIWA we dived headlong into an enthralling showcase of both DJing and percussion from the Djembe Monks. To say their display demanded attention would be putting it lightly. Simply put, what an act. The morning after I could still hear echoes of their performance of the Francis Mercier Remix of Miishu & Emmanuel Jal's "Yuma."
As the night went on Jay gave us a performance to remember, with a rhythm and tempo that remained constant. A meshing of DJ Vino Silva's "Homenagem Manda" and Salif Keita & Martin Solveig's "Madan" being one of the most brilliant bits of music delivered on the night.
Samuel Cosmic was equally adept, with a showcase that required "Auto Shazam" and left the audience in a state of euphoria. Plays of his collaboration with &friends "Halele," an unreleased remix of David Guetta's "Sexy Bitch," and a mashup of "Wishi Wishi" had everyone breaking out in song. We need this man on a plane to Ibiza.
Halu! came on as we passed midnight and the night became a blur. However his Afro tech heavy selections kept on the momentum of the night, with his remix of Freeman's "Chahwiriri" being a high point. Ace Frvr took on the baton with fast paced selections that called for an energy I had long runout off. As his set came to a close and Wowrae was ready on the drums and marimba, I realised the audience was now 1:1 with the serving staff and that was my sign to head home.
14 hours of house had always been an ambitious feat, with 14 hours of house overnight (until the sunrise) being doubly hard. Yet the concept faired far better than I expected for it's first edition. One or two more of these and it'll be a crowd of voices chanting there as the cockles crow.
Greedysouth rating: 7.4/10
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