adminH-Metro Reporter
RISING gospel artistes remain poor as they are made to perform at church conferences for free, a leading preacher and praise and worship singer has said.
Pastor Hetisani Mharidzo, who doubles up as chairperson of the Zimbabwe Female Gospel Artists (ZFGAA), said the church should honour upcoming artistes as they incur expenses when recording their music.
She made the call ahead of the launch of ZFGAA on March 10.
“Our vision as ZFGAA is to empower and unite women through gospel music by encouraging and helping each other.
“However, the majority of young artists that we have in our books are struggling to make ends meet despite their music being played on the airwaves and at church gatherings.
“The church has been enjoying free labour forgetting that the young female artists singing at their services need to put food on the table,” she said.
Mharidzo said ZFGAA, which boasts of over 50 members both locally and in South Africa, was determined to change female artists’ lives.
“We can’t afford to raise a generation of poor female gospel artists when there are plenty of projects that we can do.
“As an association, we are appealing to well-wishers to help us start our projects. We are also appealing to the Government to give us land for our projects so that we don’t live from hand to mouth,” she said.
Some of the popular names who have joined ZFGAA are Dorcas Moyo, Caroline Mujokoro, Precious Kay, Rumbie Zvirikuzhe and Roe Makawa, among others.
Outlining some of the major highlights of the launch, Mharidzo said they were set to unveil a new album during the event.
“On March 13 we are going to launch our organisation after registering it with the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe so that we operate with the blessings of the association.
“We are also going to unveil an album that we recorded as ZFGAA artists titled Huyai Tibatane, which has five tracks, namely Vakunda veZion, Tawana Rugare, Nokutenda, Kunaka KweZimbabwe and Hilava Kurhula.
“We worked with various producers like Blessing Masanga, Gibson Makumbe and Clancy Mbirimi. South Africa-based members of ZFGAA also participated on the album,” she said.
In their quest to promote peace, ZFGAA has also produced the song Hilava Kurhula, which talks about unity and love among Zimbabweans.
The song was also endorsed by the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
In her personal capacity, Pastor Mharidzo has released two songs, Mharidzo, released in 2013 and Another Chance (2018).
She is currently working on a double CD titled Handicheuke/My Praises.
The double CD carries 16 tracks and is set to convince lost souls to turn to Christ for salvation.
Online Reporter