Intwasa ends

This year’s theme was “Bulawayo Blooming”.

In an interview, Intwasa spokesperson, Nkululelo Nkala, hailed this year’s edition of the festival as a success, saying it had managed to surpass their expectations.

“I would say this year’s edition has been a success more than the other editions of the festival we have held. We have received fully booked houses in most of our shows and sometimes we have, unfortunately, had to turn people away because of lack of space,” said Nkala.

He said they had been overwhelmed by the response of the people of Bulawayo who had turned out in their numbers to rally behind the festival. He also added that the influence of the Intwasa brand was growing regionally and internationally as evidenced by the number of people from outside the country who attended this year’s festivities.

“The response of the people of Bulawayo has been nothing short of phenomenal and we would like to thank the residents of Bulawayo for showing up in numbers. I would say the festival is growing because of the sheer number of people who attended the festival,” he said.

Nkala thanked the sponsors of the festival for making the event possible as well as encouraging other members of the corporate world to get involved in the festival in the future.

“We would like to thank our sponsors for making the festival possible while the door is not closed to those that also want to come in support of the festival. With the support of the corporate world the festival will only grow further,” he said.

Since Tuesday, Bulawayo has been a hive of activity with an assortment of groups taking to the stage leaving a mark on the arts scene.

The opening ceremony on Tuesday at the Chibuku stage situated at the Large City Hall car park was the most dazzling of all.

It was officially opened by National Arts Council of Zimbabwe director, Elvas Mari.

They performed to about 300 people at the event. Praise poets also known as imbongi came on stage and they belted out their linguistic skill to an appreciative crowd. Host Babongile Sikhonjwa created a carnival atmosphere by involving the crowd in the activities while giving away free tickets to the Spring Jazz Festival, T-shirts and opaque beer.

The United Bulawayo Artistes, a grouping of the city’s artistes, were the main act with groups such as Siyaya, Umkhathi and Iyasa sharing the stage as they kept the crowd on the edge of their seats.

Well acclaimed accapella group Family Voices took to the stage and gave a good account of themselves.  They sang their famous song Ah! that was a spread of melodies that were well coordinated drawing loud cheers and applause from the crowd. Their act showed why Bulawayo is regarded as the cultural hub of Zimbabwe.

The main act was a non-stop, mind blowing one-and-a-half hours which had hip-hop dance crews such as Antivirus performing at the show. The crowd could not help but cheer and ululate as the performing artistes finished off their performance together.

On Monday evening Stitsha, a play written by Cont Mhlanga 24 years ago, showed in a packed Bulawayo Theatre and the play was well received by stage play enthusiasts.

However, people need to be schooled in the aspects of watching theatre arts as during the play there was a lot of howling and chanting from the crowd. This disturbs performing artistes and organisers should make an effort to educate people on what is expected of them during the show.

During the day high school pupils gathered at the same venue and watched The Lion and the Jewel, written by Wole Soyinka.

Using the arts to educate pupils is a brilliant idea as the festival has cultivated a future audience.

All through the week workshops were dotted all over the city and those who were interested in attending them received a wealth of knowledge.

Arts managers, film producers and teachers were all catered for and more participation in the next edition would help the arts industry in the city to grow from strength to strength.

Bulawayo born jazz songstress Dudu Manhenga on Thursday night headlined the Spring Jazz Festival and she did not disappoint.

The crowd showed that there was a hunger for jazz in the city from the mature crowd. The hunger is from those who want to sit down and listen to melodious sounds.

Nkala said people should brace themselves for an explosive closing show that will see the debut of Raisedon Baya’s long awaited play titled The Immigrants.

“On Saturday at the Bulawayo Theatre, we will be debuting Baya’s play, The Immigrants, which is actually his first play after a long while. Like the whole festival has been, I promise the closing day will be explosive as well,” he said.

Another event set to catch the eye is the Sistaz Open Mic, which will be held at the Chibuku stage at Bulawayo City Hall car park from 3-5pm.

Many artistes have found their feet on this platform.  These include singers Clare Nyakujara and Zanele Manhenga and poets Aura Kawanzaruwa and Linda Gabriel, among many others.

Sistaz Open Mic is a free space where women come together in the safety of daytime and do their thing  and one of the few artistic venues where mothers are encouraged to bring their children to have fun too while they bask in the light of new Zimbabwean music.

Also billed to perform tonight at the closing ceremony is Jeys Marabini and Ndolwane Super Sounds, while a closing party featuring a host of DJs will wrap up this year’s proceedings.

Today, the closing ceremony is dubbed “Turn up the Night with Miller” at the Chibuku Stage housed at the City Hall car park.

For the sixth year running, Delta Beverages’ Chibuku brand has supported Intwasa festival.

Delta has been one of the festival’s longest serving sponsors through its Chibuku brand at the Bulawayo City Hall car park which has come to be known as the Chibuku Stage.

As the festival has grown in leaps and bounds, the Chibuku Stage has become the biggest and most popular stage of the festival where the top performances are hosted.

“Over the years the Chibuku Stage has become the face and nerve centre of the festival”, said Intwasa Festival director, Raisedon Baya.

“We expect this year’s performances to be of an even higher quality and to pull even bigger crowds.”

The Chibuku Stage will host local big brands such as Otis Ngwabi, Jeys Marabini, Chase Skuza and the new kids on the block, Mokoomba, who stole the show at the Pilsner Day at Hifa earlier this year.

The stage was also the venue for the Intwasa 2012 Official Opening on Wednesday.

“The arts remain an integral part of a people’s heritage and our Chibuku brand is a heritage brand.

Delta is excited to partner Intwasa again this year as we celebrate Chibuku’s 50th Anniversary and we look forward to an even better festival this year,” said Delta’s director for corporate affairs, George Mutendadzamera.

He said Delta has realised that there is enormous appetite for the arts regardless of discipline in this part of the country and the talent is equally huge hence the potential for growth of this property.

“We are happy to be part of this festival,” he added.

Delta Beverages supports arts at varying levels and Chibuku in particular supports traditional dance through the nationwide traditional dance competion, Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Competition.