Gemma Griffiths

Gemma is a household name in her home country Zimbabwe. She has shared the stage with some of Zimbabwe’s biggest names such as Jah Prayzah, Alick Macheso and Dr Oliver Mtukudzi. It was Gemma’s love of Zim-Dancehall, that inspired a rendition of ‘Musarova Bigman’, a track by the godfather of the scene - Winky D. Gemma’s version, gained notoriety across Zimbabwe, catapulting her into the dancehall space as an artist. In 2019, Winky D invited her to collaborate on "Mugarden” which became the biggest song of 2019 and broke the record for the fastest YouTube views in the country’s history, landing the number 1 spot on the UK’s Afrobeats video chart (kiss tv) and making DJ Edu’s BBC Radio 1xtra’s top 5. This brought Gemma to the attention of Levels and DJ Fantan, founders of the celebrated reggae hub Chillspot records. They featured her on 3 riddims, all of which charted at number 1 on radio across Zimbabwe. Gemma’s love of playing live has taken her from Lake Of Stars festival in Malawi to the All Africa festival in Dubai and Zimfest in the UK. In 2022/23 Gemma has toured Zimbabwe, Dubai the UK and Australia. Whilst Gemma is regarded a national treasure to many, she continues to carve out an international trajectory with music – carrying her beloved home country with her. “I owe so much of my journey to Zimbabwean music culture and to Zim-Dancehall. I’m grateful for my upbringing, for my parents and my country, as before anything else, I am a Zimbabwean.”