adminClive Malunga-Zim Music Martix
THE main purpose of Jenaguru Arts Centre is to search for and discover talented artists, especially those who major in traditional music and dance.
Due to financial constraints, our efforts are restricted to areas in and around Harare.
This week, I am going to tell you about the most disgusting events, which happened during Jenaguru’s tour of Japan in 2011.
It was a horrible year for Jenaguru Music and Dance Group because of what happened at the World Music Day (WOMAD) festival.
It was a great achievement to be invited to perform at such a prestigious global festival.
We recruited an excellent mbira player and a congas maestro.
Clemence was the mbira player while Andrew was the professional ngoma player.
They were to accompany Jenaguru Music and Dance Group, comprising of young primary school children. Our rehearsals were done at Jenaguru Arts Centre once per week during mid-term and twice per week during school holidays.
Then we left Zimbabwe on a marathon tour that took us to the southern and northern cities of Hokkaido and Akita prefectures.
Our last performance was at a grand festival, WOMAD 2011, in Hakodate City.
We shared the main stage with big musical groups from China, USA, UK, South Korea, Australia, Kenya, Senegal and New Zealand.
Jenaguru was given the highest honour of performing at the main stage at 10 pm Japanese time.
The young boys and girls rose to the occasion.
The performance was unique in the sense that we showcased what we know best, our traditional dances.
All artists were accommodated at one massive complex which had eight floors.
Our group opted to stay in the third floor.
Each floor was manned by four to six festival managers. In our third floor, we had one beautiful young lady who was our direct floor manager.
Whatever we wanted, food, drink and information about our next performance, she would provide.
As I relaxed in my beautiful room, I was startled by a not-so-gentle knock on my door.
Three ladies came in with allegations Clemence and Andrew had wanted to rape our young floor manager. They alleged she was saved by her loud screams. It looked like the world had collapsed around me. Jenaguru managing director, Tomoko Takahashi, begged the complainant not to file charges with the police. We pleaded with the complainant and festival directors not to drag Jenaguru and the accused to court. The organisers of the festival kicked us out of the complex and we had to book some rooms at a nearby hotel. We now had to pay hotel and food bills, including transport, to the performance venue.
We decided not to visit Hakodate City for 10 years.
The age group of the children we had taken for the cultural exchange tour was between 10-12 years.
Only one boy, Tatenda was 12, Wendy, Mary (not her real name) and Tichafara were all 10-year-olds.
Our first performance was a disaster because Tichafara started crying when we were in the middle of our performance.
He stopped dancing saying something was biting his face. The second performance at another school witnessed an incident similar to the first when Tatenda started crying saying something was biting his face.
Our third performance was in Otaru City.
At around midnight Wendy, one of the young dancers, came and knocked on my door, crying, claiming a big fish wanted to eat her.
On stage, during the third performance, Wendy cried stage, saying she has been bitten on her face, by something we could not see.
These incidents disturbed our performances a lot.
As we progressed with our tour, we discovered that it was only three children who were continuously affected.
Mary kept on being spared and we started suspecting her. The affected children would each morning tell some horror dreams.
One day, after I decided to stop Mary from performing, Wendy woke up with a seriously swollen knee. I then confronted Mary and told her to stop the wicked things she was doing.
After that discussion, Wendy performed without any problems in Sapporo City.
Mary apologised and confessed about having an urge to go out at midnight.
She told us that at home her mother would many times prevent her from going out at midnight.
I felt very sorry for the little girl.
We at first thought of sending her back to Zimbabwe but dropped the idea after considering the cost of sending her unaccompanied.
We settled on stopping her from all performances until the last one at the World Music Day Festival (WOMAD).
When I arrived at the Harare International Airport, I told Mary’s mother about her daughter’s confession to us. All she could say was, “Ichokwadi kumusha kwababa vacho kunoshinhwa.”
◆ NB: For feedback, you can contact me on [email protected] or WhatsApp/SMS 0782 464 001.
Mathew Masinge
Online Reporter