Arts Focus: That September time again

Raisedon Baya

September is here. Remember September is also the time for Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo. This year’s edition is the 12th edition of the festival and will be celebrated under the theme “Expressions”. The idea is to celebrate the different forms of expressions under the arts. Theatre. Dance. Music. Spoken Word. Visual Arts. Funding permitting the idea was to be as inclusive as possible.

However, the current economic situation in the country has seen the dwindling of financial support to arts. In the past years we used to talk about Zimbabwe having over two dozen festivals. This year most of these are not even taking place due to funding challenges. Intwasa will take place from the 26th of September to the 1st of October. However, it will be a lean edition with the bare essentials.

The 12th edition is about encouraging artistes to be as expressive as possible. It seeks to showcase the curious roving eye of the artiste, be it the literary writer, the poet, comedian, actor, dancer or visual artist. It seeks to showcase the bravery of our artistes in capturing issues that are not your everyday discussions. The edition also seeks to challenge the artistes to be relevant to their society by capturing and articulating issues that the majority of us can relate to. The arts are no longer elitist but are now used even for social development purposes.

Some events to look forward to this year are the popular Women, Wine and Words which is a platform that seek to celebrate women and women’s voices. This year the event features four young and beautiful wordsmiths, two from Harare and the other two from Bulawayo. These poets are Charity Hutete, Nobuntu (not the accapella group), Lady Tshawe and Tinashe Tafirenyika respectively.

Lady Tshawe’s poetry is intelligent and soulful. She is a proven master at weaving ordinary words into melodious sentences.

Tinashe Tafirenyika is the reigning champion of the past two Intwasa Poetry Slams. She is a joy to watch. You only have to listen to her once to fall deeply with her. Her performances have been previously described as hypnotic. Charity Hutete is making her second appearance at Intwasa. Headlining this show are the rising and very talented Nkwali and Eve Kawadza from Harare.

The other show not to miss is the Comedy Night Show. The Comedy Night show continues to grow and draw its own audiences. This, of course, is a result of the hard work being done by Umahlekisa Comedy Club throughout the year. The club’s audience building exercises continue to bear fruits. This year at Intwasa the comedy night will feature the hilarious Babongile Sikhonjwa, Doc Vikela, Q the Boss, Ntando Van Moyo and Viv Groskop from the UK. No doubt this will be a night of many laughs. The line-up on its own promises a lot.

The theatre program will see Umkhathi Theatre Works presenting Warrior, Bambelela Arts Ensemble in The Civil Servant, The University of Zimbabwe in The Continuum, Theatre for Everyone brings back the much talked about play Untikolotshe.

Nhimbe Trust will have its own day where it will present three plays, a children’s play —True Colours, a women in theatre production called Women Without Husbands and a South African musical called Kugugothandayo. The Live Literature project is back once again to complete the theatre program.

For poetry there is the popular Intwasa Poetry Slam. This year the slam is a bit different as it features teams. Poets perform as teams. This is to encourage collaborations among poets. The teams have been asked to prepare poems on peace. This is the collaborative piece that will be entered in the finals. The slam is always full of surprises. This year it won’t be different. Last but not least is the Great Shakespeare Exhibition which will open the festival. The exhibition will be held at the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo.