Jo Stak used to sing in Mandarin and get stopped by fans on the streets of Shanghai. That changed when he came home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was 2017 and Jo Stak \u2013 wearing a red tuxedo jacket, a bow tie and a homburg hat \u2013 was belting out a Mandarin song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Red and yellow lights shimmered around him as a crowd of cheering, flag-waving fans on the Chinese version of The Voice gave a standing ovation at the end of his act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stak\u2019s melodious rendition of a 1992 Chinese song called The World Needs Warm Hearts was broadcast on national television.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was invited to perform at The Voice as a guest performer that year,\u201d Stak recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The prime-time spot reflected how well-known he\u2019d become in China. On Douyin, China\u2019s version of TikTok, he had about five million followers. He\u2019d appeared on some of the country\u2019s biggest television stations. Fans stopped him on the street to ask for a photo or just have a chat. The Zimbabwean singer was riding high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing Black in China makes you stand out naturally,\u201d he explains. \u201cAnd I was a musician [so that] made me stand out more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people who stopped him were often impressed that a foreigner would sing in Mandarin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare, Joe Takawira \u2013 Stak\u2019s real name \u2013 is an inconspicuous figure walking down a street in Budiriro 5, the working class suburb where he was born and raised. In 2019, after seven years in China, his work visa expired, and he returned home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sporting his signature beard, grey sweatpants, sneakers and a black T-shirt, he lights a cigarette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He saunters past street vendors selling fresh produce and condiments, stops at a corner to chat with a friend, then goes about his day. Whenever he runs into someone he knows, he greets them with a fist bump and a toothy grin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When he\u2019s at home, Stak listens to instrumental music and writes songs in Mandarin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is how I spend my time in Budiriro,\u201d he says, shrugging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It feels a long way from China and the career he enjoyed there. He has not found the same acclaim back home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even his neighbours had no idea about his previous life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clemence Kadzomba, who runs a tyre shop in Stak\u2019s neighbourhood, had no idea who his neighbour was until some of his clients who were among the 20,000 Zimbabweans living in China recognised him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it,\u201d 43-year-old Kadzomba says, grinning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThey were so excited to see him, like he was some big deal. And yet, here he was, just hanging out with us like it was nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stak\u2019s musical journey has its roots in the Methodist church-run school he attended as a teenager.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He sang in his church choir, something he loved, and was part of a group of students who recorded a gospel album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The album did well, and some of the songs have close to a million views on YouTube.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Music runs in his family, says Stak, the middle of three brothers. His older brother wrote songs at school while the youngest brother plays the piano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After graduating, Stak enrolled to study Mandarin in China in 2012, motivated by his love for Chinese culture, which began as a boy watching Jackie Chan\u2019s action films. He was 20 years old when he moved to Shanghai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This came at a time when Zimbabwe was pivoting away from the West with the late leader Robert Mugabe\u2019s \u201cLook East\u201d policy, adopted in response to United States and European Union sanctions after a 2002 presidential election marred by violence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mugabe opened Zimbabwe\u2019s doors to Asia, leading to an influx of Chinese investment as more Zimbabweans headed to China to work or study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By 2014, Stak was proficient in Mandarin and started posting videos of himself singing in Mandarin to Douyin. \u201cI wanted to explore music in a different language,\u201d he explains as he lights a cigarette and sits back in his chair on the red-floored veranda of his house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He would sing R&B, hip-hop and pop songs in Mandarin and English and started to get booked for gigs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy first gig was at Yuyingtang, a music bar in Shanghai,\u201d he recalls. He says the venue wasn\u2019t very big but he made $1,500 \u2013 enough to pay for his food and accommodation for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That gig made him realise he could make money from his talent, and it marked the start of his career as a professional pop singer in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then in 2017, he joined the Foundation Band, a group of musicians from Africa, the US and Europe that performed Chinese and Western pop music and hip-hop at weddings and nightclubs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the lead vocalist, he caught the attention of Chinese television networks, leading to performances on major stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was surprised by my success in China,\u201d Stak admits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Life there was good. His daily routine consisted mainly of \u201ceating, singing and drinking\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His favourite dish was hotpot \u2013 a meal for which diners cook raw ingredients like seafood and tofu in a shared pot of broth at the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven now, when I miss it, I go to Chinese restaurants,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019d perform at night, and during the day, he\u2019d roam along Shanghai\u2019s historic waterfront with its colonial-era architecture and rooftop bars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stak made good money. \u201cThey pay artists well \u2013 I mean 1,000 US dollars minimum for a 10-minute show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he also felt accepted and at home in China, where he says the music industry welcomes foreign talent and invests in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Unlike many foreign artists singing in English who can struggle to break into the Chinese market, Stak had an edge \u2013 he was an African singing in Mandarin, and there were few performers like him. His ability to perform popular Chinese songs endeared him to audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then in 2019, Stak\u2019s visa expired. Aged 27, he returned to a country that was in the midst of a\u00a0devastating economic crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His parents \u2013 his father\u2019s an engineer, his mother\u2019s a teacher \u2013 were coping, but across the country, people were struggling with hyperinflation, foreign currency shortages and an unemployment rate of more than 50 percent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stak found work as a translator \u2013 and quickly discovered that Zimbabwe\u2019s music and social media landscapes were unfamiliar to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He says much of his fame and success came from Chinese apps, mostly Douyin. But the apps he relied on are available only in China as Beijing restricts foreign digital platforms through its \u201cGreat Firewall\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Without them, Stak could no longer reach his Chinese audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His career vanished when he left Shanghai. \u201cI feel like a part of me remained in China,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Zimbabwe, nobody knew him. He started recording some music \u2013 and contemplated a switch to gospel, which is popular in the country \u2013 but he\u2019s struggled to promote his songs. When he contacted a local radio station to play his music, he never heard back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stak believes that if Chinese social media were accessible to global audiences, he would still have a thriving musical career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat would have brought me international recognition,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, the translation work pays well. He currently works for a Chinese mining company, translating English or Shona into Mandarin. When he isn\u2019t working, he tries to write music, but full-time work leaves little time to reinvent himself or find an audience for his Chinese pop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, Stak is torn. He dreams of a return to China but also wants to rebuild his music career in Zimbabwe, where he hopes to marry and raise a family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Jo Stak used to sing in Mandarin and get stopped by fans on the streets of Shanghai. That changed when he came home. It was 2017 and Jo Stak \u2013 wearing a red tuxedo jacket, a bow tie and a homburg hat \u2013 was belting out a Mandarin song. Red and yellow lights shimmered around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,31],"tags":[7,14,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-40354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"category-music","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music"},"yoast_head":"\n