adminPabalelo Tlou Sunday Leisure Reporter
A NUMBER of Bulawayo musicians have been presented with a golden chance to claim their place in the sun when they showcase their talents during the annual Intwasa Arts Festival KoBulawayo, the biggest city multi-disciplinary festival that celebrates and promotes music, literary arts, visual arts, dance, spoken word, theatre and crafts.
Under the theme, “Unforgettable” the event will run for five days from 23 to 27 September.
The event has so far attracted a glitterati of artistes around the country with an international flavour as three foreign artistes have also confirmed their attendance.
But it is for those artistes who have cut their music teeth in Bulawayo such as Jeys Marabini, Sandra Ndebele and traditional groups that were modified to reflect Zimbabwe’s diverse music industry such as Iyasa that are set to shine considering this is an event in their backyard.
Harare-based sungura musician Sulumani Chimbetu and other budding artistes are also set to add flavour at this year’s closing ceremony billed Bayethe Bulawayo Concert.
Jeys said he would take advantage of the show to enable fans to dance to hits from past albums and his latest offering Isilo released this year, which is receiving considerable airplay on many radio stations in and outside Zimbabwe.
“I make it my priority to perform at Intwasa Arts Festival because the fete celebrates my culture and it is always an honour to be one of the artistes who have performed at the festival since its inception.
“I will be performing songs from my newly released album, Isilo, I will also perform some of my old school music from previous albums. We encourage people to come in their numbers because this will be a show to remember,” said Jeys.
Sandra Ndebele also expressed happiness to be part of the show and said her group never disappoints and was confident to keep audience on their toes.
“This will be a night to remember, we will make sure of that, what is left is for our fans here in Bulawayo to come out in their numbers to support and cheer up their artistes because the crowds make a party, alone we cannot do it,” she said.
The director of Intwasa Festival koBulawayo, Raisedon Baya said this will be one of the biggest days for music lovers as a legion of artistes from different cities has been invited.
“Bayethe Bulawayo Concert will be one of the biggest show of the festival and it will be held in collaboration with Bulawayo City Council and will feature top musicians like Sulumani Chimbetu, Ndolwane Super Sounds, Albert Nyathi, Amawala Collaboration, Sandra Ndebele and Iyasa,” said Baya.
Proceedings before the concert will be hosted at six venues around Bulawayo’s Central Business District and these are the Large City Hall Car Park, National Art Gallery, Bulawayo Theatre, Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel, The Hope Centre and Large City Hall.
Bulawayo Rainbow Hotel will be the venue of the Spring Jazz Show which will see performances by Cool Crooners, Outfit Band, Jam Signal and Tariro NeGitare. The Spring Jazz Show is a premier festival event and popular with Bulawayo jazz lovers.
The City Hall Car Park is the festival’s nerve centre; it will host the biggest open air stage called The Chibuku Stage. This stage is supported by Chibuku and offers top entertainment in the form of traditional dance and music with performances from Jeys, Clement Magwaza, Zimboita, Chicken Bus Band, Ndux Junior, Umkhathi Theatre and many other groups.
Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo is the second biggest arts event in Zimbabwe after the Harare International Festival of Arts. It was created in 2005 by local artistes and arts administrators with a vision of leading arts development and marketing Bulawayo as a cultural city. It owes its success and survival to its traditional supporters and partners. These are Hivos Foundation, Norwegian Embassy, Chibuku, Culture Fund of Zimbabwe, Plan International — Zimbabwe, British Council, Nhimbe Trust, Pamberi Trust, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and Africalia Belgium.
This year’s edition of Intwasa will host about 40 arts events. These will include workshops, discussions, public readings, performances and exhibitions all designed to celebrate human creativity and diversity.
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