Profile for rising gospel diva - Jennifer Maneni

Jennifer Maneni is Zimbabwean songwriter, singer, dancer, and a guitarist who specializes in gospel music. Her music is a fusion of many musical beats which include Passada, Reggae, Jit, Rhumba, Chikende, and Jazz.  Her Compositions are inspired by nature, the Word of God in the Bible, sermons which she listens to as well as what happens in society.

She plays an acoustic guitar which she learnt at Zimbabwe College of Music in Harare.

She was born and bred in Harare’s Highfields Suburb and started singing at a tender age. She attended school in Highfields where she participated in Scripture Union at Mukai High. After completing high school, she enrolled for a Marketing Diploma at Great Strides Commercial College and also did a Designing Course majoring in Interior Designing.

The gospel star attributes her entrance into music to her Christian background where she grew up attending Apostolic Faith Mission Church.

After competing her schooling her career started taking shape when, as a session musician, she starred for established gospel musicians in the country as a backing vocalist for award-winning gospel artistes like Mercy Mutsvene, Fungisai Zvakavapano Mashavave, Dona Chibaya, the late Joyce Simeti and Pastor Haisa among others from 2005 and 2012.

While working as a session musician, she got a contract with the then music marketing giant – Zimbabwe Music Corporation to record her first album in 2008 titled Fambai Neni (Walk with Me).

This was her first project ever and as such the album though it was laden with very good songs, it did not get proper marketing.

Having realised that she had gained a lot from the seasoned artists she was working with, she decided to go solo in 2012 and turn professional. She broke her four-year break from the recording studio to record her second offering titled -Total Recovery.

This album did very well with the songs Umire Papi (Where Do You Stand) and Tatenda (We thank you) proving to be the outstanding ones on the album. Up to 2013, the album was almost an anthem on all national radio stations and was on pole position on the gospel charts for over three months. The album was marketed by Ridza Music Management.

The same year when Jennifer went solo, she competed in a competition for Zimbabwean artists to compose a song on the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) general Assembly held that year in Victoria Falls. Her song was selected as the fourth best song out of about 40 entries. That earned her a $10 000 reward.

The release of Total Recovery saw Jennifer’s young musical career being lifted to another level and she got rewarded by getting invitations to play at weddings, revival conferences as well as corporate functions.

In 2015, Jennifer then released a 10-track album titled His Grace which has chart busting songs.

The success of the album which still being played largely on various radio stations culminated in the Gospel diva recording her first-ever DVD (His Grace) where she picked five songs on her album to produce a brilliant project The videos are currently receiving rave reviews from pundits because of its quality, well thought out lyrical content, choreography and well written scripts.

 Songs like You Raise Me Up, Wakatendeka (You are faithful) and Buruka Mweya Washe (Come Holy Spirit) are among the leading songs on the album. Some of the songs are being played on DSTV channels  - Christ TV, Zambezi Magic and at one time the song You Raise Me  Up featured in Afro Beat Top 10  on DSTV channel 326, Trace Africa. The DVD is being marketed through her Jen Music brand.

Riding on the success of her album and DVD, Jennifer was nominated for the PERMICAN - Prophets Emmanuel and Ruth Makandiwa Invitational Concert Awards. The awards is a show that was created in honour of Zimbabwe Gospel Musicians who evangelize through music.  She was nominated alongside other renowned gospel artistes in the Best Traditional category.  The PERMICANs are the only Music Awards Ceremony in Zimbabwe to celebrate outstanding gospel music only. Though another group went on to win the award, her nomination alone shows that her music is of good quality.

The success of her last project has seen the young gospel musician being invited to high profile gigs where she is performing alongside great names in the music industry. She has performed alongside South African Gospel Queen Rebecca Malope. Many companies and corporates have also enlisted her services in doing advertorial jingles for them. She is also the Brand Ambassador for Harare City Football Club.