THEY may be 5,200 miles away from home, but on their latest single, 7 Wonders, the Zimbabwean brother duo of Seiraj ‘Bkay’ Khan and Farhaan ‘Kazz’ Khan immerse themselves in a raw, and colourful nostalgic trance to travel through verdant spring mornings in Zimbabwe’s top seven tourist spots.

Winners of the United Kingdom’s Live & Unsigned contest in 2007, they went on to release a Top 40 track ‘You Know It’s Right’ and opened shows for top international stars like Neyo, Akon, O’Marion and Sean Kingston.

Bkay: We were born in Malawi and raised in Zimbabwe. We moved to Masvingo when we were very young and we settled. It’s been home ever since. Ndo kwatinova.

Our dad is half-Pakistan and half-African, while our mother is half-Malayian and half-Gowanese. We’ve been lucky to have been exposed to so many cultures.

Bkay: My nickname as a child was Budgie (don’t ask!!) and combined with my surname, the initials B.K. stuck eventually becoming stage name ‘Bkay’

Bkay: Our father was a musician and used to play the base guitar for several groups. So we grew up with guitars. As brothers, music grew on us and it was a natural progression to form a group.

I was a rascal. I did very well at school but I was the mischievous one, your typical type that makes noise. I never took life seriously but just enjoyed it. I knew back then that these were the best years of my life. When others were studying into the small hours, I was playing.

Bkay: I was a good boy, quite focused. My dad took education very seriously, so there was no messing about. I did graphic designing straight after school, it was an apprenticeship in Harare.

I met quite a few interesting people, all this time people would come to me and say ‘we heard you guys can sing’, then invite us to perform at parties, weddings even for a few drinks. From there it snowballed, a lot of people saw our talent and a few guys took us on, trained us here and there.

Kazz: That would have to be me. He taught me how to sing, and he has been studying how to sing. He’s very much a better singer. You are a jack of all but a master of none.

Kazz: In the beginning it was hard. In Zimbabwe, we tried to release but we were told our music was too westernised. We released our first single ‘Hello’ and it did very well. We moved to the UK and decided to flow with the big fish, competing for the same market with established international stars. My dad said if you’re in a class with dull people, you become a dofo (Shona for dull person), and if you’re in a class with geniuses, you become one.

Bkay: It’s always a struggle. One thing you have to know is that if you relax, you get overtaken, even forgotten! That’s how it is. You’ve got to try and keep up with the changing music, and also not lose your identity. We are not British, we are Zimbabweans with own style and proud.

Your debut album released last year was called Boomslang, what is the meaning of the term?

Bkay: Boomslang is a venomous snake indigenous to Southern Africa. We wanted to identify with the lethal talent and lyrics that are pure poison! Boomslang is also the name of our company that is responsible for music, sound engineering, video production and marketing of the work we do.

Kazz: 7 wonders is meant to draw Zimbabweans into a nostalgic reminiscence of our beautiful country. Zimbabweans abroad and at home will be proud at the depictions enacted in the lyrics and video images of this track. The song describes the seven wonders of Zimbabwe and illustrates the people’s culture and lifestyle. The single has been released for download on all major online stores.

Kazz: My dad owns a construction company in Zimbabwe. I used to drive wheelbarrows, and operate cement mixers before working my way up in the company. I didn’t mind it but it wasn’t my kind of thing.

Bkay: When I came to the UK I lived in Scotland for a while with my aunt. You don’t realize the next country is different until you get there. She introduced me to this lovely old man who said he had a job for me. The next minute he was giving me a pair of gloves, a pair of oxygen masks and suddenly I’m thinking: ‘Am I going to work in a nuclear plant or what?’

He took me to this warehouse where I was going to be packing newspapers. I will never forget the experience and I won’t wanna go through it again. On days when I did the walk to work, I would just feel something behind my shoulders and turn to find a herd of cattle following me right to my job. It was weird. I worked there for a month and a half, managing to pay for my train ticket and I was on my way to London.

Kazz: Seeing as I live like am 18! I think I would take music much more seriously. Back then we were doing it for fun and lost time. I wish I had taken it a whole lot more seriously then. I would certainly be further right now [in my career].

Bkay: I wouldn’t drink and drive. I had an accident in 2003 and that day changed my life in a serious way. I was down for almost two years, unable to do anything. I was lucky to survive with my life. It’s in my heart, and I certainly would change that.

Kazz: I like a lot of reggae so I look up to guys like Tommy Mattoron, Jah Cure, Sean Paul, and on the RnB side Joe Thomas, Donell Jones, Keith Sweat, Boyz II Men and on the pop side T Pain, Akon for the way they broke through.

Bkay: Bob Marley, Otis Wedding, Andy Brown and Oliver Mtukudzi. They taught us a lot and a common thread among those guys is their versatility. It’s an inspiration, their music.

Boy wonders ... Bkay and Kazz

Kazz: I do, and as a mater of fact I have seen them. At school [Prince Edward], and the farm. We once saw a spaceship at school but no aliens. It’s something that could not be explained. There were six of us playing rugby, I believe on a Sunday afternoon either in 1999 or 2000 and we saw the ship pass over the chapel. It went behind the trees and disappeared. We couldn’t explain something so low and so round. That incident started the whole paranormal interest in me.

Kazz: Crossroads by Bone Thugs n Harmony. It’s got something to do with things in this world which can’t be explained, the unexplained.

Bkay: I’ll Make Love to You by Boys II Men. There was a certain chick back in the day in Zim, it was love. I started learning the song word for word, singing it like each one of the guys just to impress.

Kazz: I would love to see what R Kelly does when he writes the hits. I just want to sit in the corner and see kuti anorova mbanje kana kuti anemudzimu [does he smoke marijuana or is he possessed by spirits]? I just want to see how he does it, he’s totally amazing.

Bkay: I want to get into NASA and see what really they get up to there. I really want to know what those guys know which they are not telling us. They only tell us what they think we can deal with, or what they only want us to know.

Kazz: A small doll. I don’t carry it, I keep it at home. It was given to me by one of my aunties. No I’m joking. When I was four years old, I had a heart operation – becoming one of the first people in Zimbabwe to have a cardiac heart operation.

When I gained consciousness there were all these people coming and going leaving presents and one woman, whom I thought at the time was just one of my aunties, gave me this doll. I was to learn later that it was in fact Sally Mugabe, the late former First Lady.

Bkay: I was asked once on a school trip if I wanted to do parasailing, and I agreed at once not knowing what it really is. They strapped me up then I saw the parachute and boat in front of me. It was too late to scream, they thought I was having fun yet I was screaming wanting to be let down.

BKAY & KAZZ: AMINA KADEYA

Bkay: Akon, he has inspired a lot of our tunes. Just the style … he’s one of those artists that when asked to perform at an intimate session, you could never imagine what he would come up with. He has the capacity to shock his crowd every time. We met him the other day in Harare and he instantly recognized us because we opened a show for him in Manchester. We were really chuffed.

Kazz: Alcohol. There’s no need for it. Why is it not a drug like the rest? It’s addictive, yet it’s sold in the shops. No, I’m joking. Drugs.

Kazz: It’s all in the character. Someone’s character can make them beautiful. Eva Mendez [American actress] is my ideal woman, I like her character.

BKAY AND KAZZ: 7 WONDERS [LYRICS VERSION]

CARLPRIT feat BKAY & KAZZ: SEE YOU AT THE TOP