adminBongani Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
THE Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo kicks off today. Afro jazz duo Afrika Revenge has promised a memorable show during the official opening ceremony on Wednesday at the Large City Hall Car Park. Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, now in its 11th edition will end on Saturday. It runs under the theme, My Intwasa, Your Intwasa, Our Intwasa with various activities from dance, theatre, poetry and music taking place.
Performing for the first time in Bulawayo after nine years, Willis Wataffi and Mehluli “Tazz” Moyo, will headline the list of artistes that will showcase at the Large City Hall Car Park.
Wataffi said they were excited to be performing in their home city and encouraged festival goers to come in their numbers. “We haven’t performed in Bulawayo for nine years and this is a good time for us to do so during one of the biggest festivals in Zimbabwe. We’re certainly thrilled to be performing at the opening ceremony and it’s good to come back home. Fans should come in their numbers as we shall perform our classics and they’ll have a chance to sample our new songs,” said Wataffi.
He said he felt the stage chemistry they had before his split with Moyo had returned.
“The chemistry at our shows in Harare is good and we shall take that to our Bulawayo show at the Intwasa Festival. We want to give our best for our fans who’ve waited for our return to the City of Kings,” said Wataffi.
Kick starting the programme today is a play The Colour of Hope at the Bulawayo Theatre from 10.00AM to 12 noon, followed by The Importance of being Earnest from 2PM till 4PM and rounding off the day for theatre is Without a Name.
Workshops are also lined up today with a Shakespeare Workshop for Schools at 10AM and Identity branding and marketing workshop at 2PM both at the Bulawayo Club.
Women Wine and Words is a show to look forward to tomorrow at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.
Other artistes that will perform at the festival are Afro Jazz musos, Jeys Marabini and Tariro Negitare, rhumba musician Clement Magwaza, dance group Iyasa and Diana Samkange.
Closing the festival on Saturday is Winky D, popularly known as Ninja President, at the Celebrate Bulawayo concert at the Large City hall.
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derick.khumalo