The sound of reggae and Afro rhythms will as soon as once more fill the air in Tembisa, Johannesburg, as Gungano Competition returns this weekend to mark its second anniversary. What began within the coronary heart of the ghetto has grown into one among South Africa’s most vibrant cultural gatherings, a celebration of unity, African pleasure, and musical heritage.
The 2-day occasion brings collectively Dancehall, Afrobeat, and Roots Reggae Dub in a single area. Saturday’s Dancehall & Afro Day units the power excessive with rhythmic fusion and Caribbean-African sounds, whereas Sunday’s Coronation Dub Sunday honors the coronation of His Imperial Majesty Emperor Haile Selassie I in 1930, a date held sacred in reggae and Rastafari tradition.
This 12 months’s lineup blends legends with rising abilities. Among the many featured artists is Elder Jah Essential, a pioneer who helped form South Africa’s reggae scene because the Nineteen Seventies and used his voice to face towards apartheid. Becoming a member of him is Luwe Da Lion, a reggae dancehall power and three-time South African Music Awards nominee, and Anela Jahmena, usually known as the Queen of South African Reggae, identified for her commanding performances throughout Europe.
The identify Gungano comes from the Shona language of Zimbabwe, that means “coming collectively in celebration.” The pageant’s timing in November—referred to as Mbudzi in Shona custom—carries deep that means. It’s a month tied to renewal, ancestral connection, and non secular reflection, when healers collect herbs from the mountains. That symbolism suits the pageant’s core message: unity, therapeutic, and pleasure via music.
Based by Don Franco Tafari, a reggae artist, and Munyaradzi Edwin Manzunzu, his longtime supervisor and schoolmate, Gungano was born from greater than 20 years of friendship and inventive imaginative and prescient.
“Gungano is just not solely a pageant; it’s a motion of consciousness and togetherness,” says Tafari. “We’re preserving African reggae alive, celebrating our roots, and constructing a cultural bridge that unites generations.”
Following the success of final 12 months’s version, Gungano Competition 2025: Reggae within the Park guarantees a good greater expertise, with reside bands, selectors, dub sound programs, and a strong showcase of African and Caribbean artistry.
A celebration of roots, rhythm, and revival, Gungano Competition continues to remind the world that reggae’s heartbeat thrives in Africa.
