adminPeter Matika, recently in Vic Falls
THE entertainment deprived town of Victoria Falls could still be savouring the inaugural three-day edition of the Victoria Fun Festival held last weekend.
The festival roared into life on Friday night in the coal mining town of Hwange, where an all-night show was held at Eldorado Rock Park, featuring ZimDancehall kingpin Shinsoman and Judgement Yard. The Hwange show belonged to a 13-year-old up-and-coming dancehall artiste B. Boy, who by all means surpassed his dancehall stars.
The 13-year-old Blessing Phiri stole the night as he gave a splendid performance, which rather overshadowed Shinsoman’s performance. Shinsoman got on stage shortly after midnight, where he performed songs from his old album and upcoming album.
The Hwange High School pupil said he had always wanted to perform at a high profile show and this was his first.
“I feel like this is the best day of my life. I have always wanted to perform at a high profile event and I guess this is my dream come true. Also I got the chance to perform alongside Shinsoman. I hope to do a collaborative album or tracks with him too in the future,” he said.
B. Boy added that he ventured into the music industry in 2015, where he has been performing in Hwange and Victoria Falls.
“I just love music and I am also grateful that my folks are supportive of it,” he said.
Despite kicking off on a low note in Hwange on Friday night, perhaps due to poor marketing, the festival managed to draw the attention of tourists in the town.
“We can’t really say the show was poor but it is a start, Rome wasn’t built in one day and neither did it thrive. For us this is a learning curve and a huge stepping stone. We learnt a lot from this event and we promise that the next one will be bigger and better,” said one of the organisers Farai Makuvaro.
Another organiser and businessman, Nicholas Mukarati said the aim was not only to provide entertainment to the region but also to seek and nurture talent.
“Despite the show kicking off on a low note in Hwange, we are happy to have redeemed ourselves in Victoria Falls, where numbers did the talking. Entertainment is a rare feature in this part of Zimbabwe. We want to turn this event into a yearly phenomenon where we reach out to everyone. We also aim at promoting local talent and have our performers being only from Zimbabwe,” said Mukarati.
The Saturday edition lived up to the festival’s billing, as hordes of people thronged the venue for the all-night extravaganza, pitting local Vic Falls band, Kwejani, Harare’s Progress, Shinsoman, Judgement Yard and a string of DJs on the tables, who kept the crowd on their feet till the next day.
On Sunday a social football tournament was held at Chinotimba Stadium, where a number of local teams battled for supremacy and of course a prize. The tournament began in the morning and lasted till the evening.
“We had attendance from a couple of Europeans and the crowd was well behaved. We need to, however, work on promoting it and growing this even bigger. We need to have more exposure on the festival. We want to grow our tourism through entertainment. In order for this event to grow we need to partner other companies. It is not our event but an event for the town,” he said.
Online Reporter