Enzo Ishall: How Zimbabwe’s Dancehall King Transformed Jamaican Music into Zimhall

Enzo Ishall: How Zimbabwe's Dancehall King Transformed Jamaican Music into Zimhall | Live Show Review

When you think of dancehall you think of Jamaica. Dancehall derives from reggae in which artists improvise vocals over a recorded or live beat. The dancing is characterized by rapid movements that flow with the beat. Well look out Jamaica as dancehall has taken Zimbabwe by storm in its own version of dancehall known as Zimhall being led by Zimbabwean artist Enzo Ishall.

On December 29, 2024, I attended Enzo’s show at the Cotton Club in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The club is a simple but charming outdoor space with a large space for people to show off their dance moves. The place reminded me of the old days in Brooklyn when people would just come to a park or to house party to show off their dance skills and spit lyrics. The innocence of the location and people cannot be captured in these pictures.

The crowd waited for hours for Enzo to perform and he did not disappoint. Enzo came on stage around 12am and didn’t finish till about 3am. His energy never wavered as he performed hits while the crowd sang and dance for every minute. What was remarkable was that the crowd sang along for every song knowing every word and had different moves for each song.

While I didn’t understand the language, I knew I was seeing greatness. It’s very rare to see artists today perform for three full hours and give 100% of their soul and energy to it. You can usually tell by the energy of the crowd. For all those who lived through the 90s and attended Hot 97 Summer Jam the rise of hip hop was felt through artists such as DMX, Biggie Smalls, The Wu Tang Clan, Jay Z, etc. The crowds reciprocated with that energy. The energy gave me flashbacks to those days where we loved our artists for giving their all and for giving us lyrics we could sing along to.

Enzo Ishall (real name Stephen Kudzanai Mamhere and born on Apri 23, 1994) is a Zimbabwean musician and Zimdancehall artist popular for hits such as “Kanjiva,” “50 Magate”, and “Mhamha.” He started writing and singing at the age of 6 and in 2018 dropped his first track called Chiita Kwacho which made it to the hit list. He has won various music awards in Zimbabwe.

Enzo Ishall is our first artist of the month as he has brought dancehall from Jamaica to his country. He stuck to his love of Dancehall as a kid and made it mainstream in Zimbabwe where the lovers of his music can dance with the best of the Jamaicans. We see you Enzo Ishall.