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Godwin Muzari Arts Editor
While the opening of new entertainment joints in the capital — Time and Jazz Café and Jazz 24/7 — should come as relief to musicians and merrymakers that were anticipating such places in the city centre, the development has conversely opened a gloomy chapter in showbiz.
As the arts fraternity warmed up to the opening of Jazz 24/7 on Thursday, a cold war erupted between the owners of the new venue and Time and Jazz Café director Josh Hozheri.
Jazz 24/7 is housed at the former Jazz 105 joint that was run by Hozheri before it closed in January 2014 after the landlord allegedly hiked rentals beyond the tenant’s reach.
After some years of operating Ice and Fire Pamuzinda along Harare-Bulawayo highway, Hozheri made a rebound to city centre entertainment when he opened Time and Jazz Café at Cresta Oasis Hotel on June 29.
Two weeks later, his former joint (Jazz 105) came to life under the name Jazz 24/7 and hell has broken loose.
Hozheri’s ex-subordinate and manager of Jazz 105 Yasin Dhala has bounced back as Jazz 24/7 manager and the former seems to feel threatened because they target the same catchment area.
Hozheri feels some moves from the Jazz 24/7 camp are meant to provoke him and he is livid. He is said to have sent awful messages to Dhala expressing his anger and accusing him of being a backstabber. Hozheri also told Dhala not to speak to him again.
While the issue of direct competition could be the driving force behind the clash, the first spark of the war came when a poster advertising the opening of Jazz 24/7 came with the name Jazz 105 in brackets below their label.
Whether it was a deliberate move or mere oversight on the part of Jazz 24/7 team, Hozheri took them to task until they changed their reference to “Ex-Jazz 105”.
While the other camp has been diplomatic in handling the issue, an official from Jazz 24/7 on Thursday revealed they are also prepared to fight and a jazz war is indeed unfolding.
The Jazz 24/7 team said it will fight behind the scenes, but determined to take Hozheri head on.
Many arts followers and critics that have been following the drama feel Hozheri’s anger is misdirected, but the music promoter is adamant that his competitors are using unfair strategies to gain mileage from a legacy that he built with Jazz 105 at his expense.
“All these developments show that I created a big brand with Jazz 105. They maintained the ‘jazz’ part of the name and changed the digits because they want to continue with the Jazz 105 concept. I am not amused at all, but the issue is turning ugly because people are also circulating various rumours that may tarnish my image,” Hozheri said yesterday.
“I have heard allegations that I hired people to disrupt operations at Jazz 24/7, but I will not do that. I am only worried by way the whole issue has been handled.
“These guys were supposed to be creative and come up their own brand rather than trying to ride on a brand that I created. I am continuing with promoting jazz and I know the best service provider will win at the end of the day.”
Rumour mongers are apparently creating further tension between the parties and fanning the war.
Hozheri is said to have threatened artists that were performing at the official opening of Jazz 24/7 warning them not to be involved in the war since he had assisted them in many ways. Hozheri denies making such remarks.
It was also rumoured during the official opening of Jazz 24/7, that there was chaos at Time and Jazz Café because the venue had not complied with orders from some authorities, with the former being implicated as instigator.
An official at Jazz 24/7 confirmed hearing the rumour.
“We are being accused of instigating chaos at Time and Jazz Café. People are saying some authorities have threatened to close the club and we are said to be involved. Things can get worse in this scenario because third parties are now involved,” said the official.
Hozheri said many people had called him asking about the purported chaos at his venue, which turned out to be untrue.
An artiste who attended Jazz 24/7 launch said the jazz war will have negative impact on the arts industry.
“We do not want a situation where some artistes are threatened because of having performed at this or that venue.
“We actually celebrated the coming of new joints as they give us more business, but this development is really unfortunate.
“We expect promoters to complement each other for the development of the industry. There have been situations where promoters sabotaged each other and artistes suffer at the end of the day. We do not want such things to happen again,” said the artiste.
Dhala said they are trying their best to avoid a worse situation.
“My colleagues have been saying we can fight back, but we are discussing the issue to ensure the situation does not get worse. I do not think my return to this joint or the use of a similar name should be an issue.
“We are both mainly targeting jazz artistes and people should have a choice. I have worked at many other joints after Jazz 105 but it was never an issue.
“Why is it an issue now? I know some people might be feeling threatened but I believe people are after better services and both venues should strive to do the best,” said Dhala.
Both joints’ official launches were well attended with Time and Jazz Café preferring a purely jazz affair that only had other non-jazz artistes as guests while Jazz 24/7 went for a commercial launch that had Suluman Chimbetu as the main act.
Besides service, the venues will probably be differentiated by their sizes and location.
Time and Jazz Café is smaller and an ideal venue for top spenders and pure jazz shows. Jazz followers are mainly mature big spenders that attend shows in small numbers and enjoy a serene environment.
If Hozheri maintains a jazz feel in all his programmes, he will win these patrons that are aptly appropriate for his venue that is located adjacent to a hotel.
On the other hand, Jazz 24/7 might not be able to sustain a complete jazz programme because of the size of the venue. Although the main target could be jazz, the bigger venue will have to complement its schedule with mass shows, which is probably the reason why Sulu was the main act at the official opening.
Jazz 105 ended up hosting more sungura than jazz shows in the same building because of that set-up. Jazz 24/7 has an advantage of its central location and will likely go with spicing jazz events with big shows featuring popular musicians.
Online Reporter