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Raisedon Baya
Something close to a miracle happened this year during Intwasa Arts Festival. I never really believed in miracles before but now I am inclined to listen very carefully when people talk about miracles. True. Miracles do happen.
To be honest I never really believed Intwasa 2016 would take place. The current economic situation does not favour festivals or big arts events that rely more on the goodwill of corporates and donor agencies. There was no hope, especially after the festival’s major funders failed to commit to the 2016 edition. Culture Fund of Zimbabwe Trust did not support any event this year, Intwasa included. Hivos, another major partner for years, stopped supporting arts and culture in Zimbabwe. Other long term partners also failed to come on board. The best option was to cancel this year’s festival, and we almost cancelled.
Had we cancelled we were not going to be the only festival to cancel. Zimbabwe has more than two dozen arts and culture festivals and this year less than four took place — meaning more than 20 cancelled. Even the biggest festival in the country, Hifa, did not take place because of the economic situation in the country. So it was a miracle that Intwasa 2016 happened. Looking back the 12th edition was not perfect but more importantly it happened and surpassed most of our expectations. A few friends of the festival who knew the situation were so happy with the programming this year that they started joking that Intwasa actually does not need funding as they can make miracles happen.
The Women, Wine and Words was probably the best edition ever. The poets were all on point. Eve Kawadza, with her super voice and small but dynamic body, blew festival audiences out of their seats and left them screaming for more. Voti Thebe’s visual interpretation of Shakespeare’s three witches was mind blowing. The three witches appear in Macbeth. Thebe’s interpretation was intelligent and had resonance with audiences. Who in Africa hasn’t heard about witches? The burning of the witches live on stage was the climax of Thebe’s presentation. It was a masterpiece. Umkhathi Theatre Works proved why they are considered one of the top theatre ensembles in the country with their version of Shaka Zulu story they titled Warrior.
Their music was soulful and haunting at the same time. The scene where Shaka battles the goblins was visually impressive. It is still vivid in many a mind. More shocking was the audience. People came to watch this local production in droves. The numbers were very encouraging.
The Spring Jazz Show was back this year. The line-up did not disappoint. My performances of the night would have to be the guest South African group Generation to Generation. From their first song they blew the audience off their feet with some nice cover songs. Then Prudence Katomeni brought the house down with her performance. Probably the theatre performance of the festival belonged to South African act Gugothandayo featuring about thirty grandmothers who took the audience through life in South Africa through the eyes of the grandmothers. Through music, dance and narration the old magogos took us through welfare stories, violence in South Africa, love, HIV and Aids and the emergency of social media. The audience was on their feet, singing along or just screaming in excitement. This was a feel good show that left everyone generally feeling good.
But the biggest surprise this year was the Bayethe Bulawayo Concert.
The idea behind the concert is to celebrate Bulawayo through music. In previous years the festival has programmed big name artistes like Winky D, Sulu and Ndolwane all in an effort to fill up City Hall. However, audiences have always been disappointing. Because of financial challenges the festival decided to go local. No one expected the crowds that turned up this year. It was a big surprise. Ramsey K, Khuliyo, and Mzoe 7 ran away with the show. One music critic wrote that Khuliyo is the “dark horse of Afro-pop” and growing with each performance. For me here is a performer destined for bigger things. He combines vision and hard work. Mzoe 7 doesn’t need to be Fela Kuti. He has a performance that can take him from the ghetto to the dizzy heights of the music industry.
That Intwasa 2016 happened without too many glitches when the festival had no budget is still unbelievable — it’s a miracle.
Now I believe miracles are not only found in church.
Online Reporter