adminNhlalwenhle Ngwenya
IN a bid to revive arts and give due recognition to talented local artistes, Gwanda is set to host its first ever talent show on Saturday at the Red Cross Hall.
The talent show comes after the mining town realised there were many talented artistes performing in bars and family shows, yet they struggle to venture into the mainstream arts industry.
Organiser of the show, Leroy Sibanda said the motive of the talent search was to market talented maJahundas – as Gwanda residents are affectionately known – to the national and international scene.
“We’ve noticed that Gwanda has a lot of talent and most of it goes unrecognised.
“The essence of this show is to market local talent to the whole of Zimbabwe and hopefully to the international community as well,” said Sibanda.
He said they introduced the Gwanda Talent Show after realising that no prominent musician or artiste had emerged from Gwanda.
The talent show, which has a focus on dance and music, has no age limit.
People interested will be expected to pay a $3 registration fee which will go towards hiring equipment and renting the venue.
“Currently, we’ve more than 15 artistes that have registered and we’re expecting more.”
Gwanda residents usually have a lukewarm response to the arts sector as people spend most of their time panning for gold, but the talent show seeks to create space for the arts in the ever busy mining town.
Bongani Moyo
Online Reporter