Just too many armchair critics . . .

Raisedon Baya Atrs Focus
LAST week the media was awash with talk about the Zimbabwe Music Awards, which have been re-introduced, after years of absence.
Most of the talk bordered on the negative. It was about the wrong things that the organisers of the event did. The criticism came from all corners; even artistes who are supposed to be beneficiaries of the project took some minutes to lampoon the awards. Some of the artistes grumbled about categories and the eventual award winners — whether they deserved it or not.

The general public, mostly people who watched the event on television, criticised the decor, programming and even sound levels.

I believe poor sound levels on television should not be blamed on the event organisers but the broadcaster itself but that’s another topic for another discussion.

Anyway there was a stampede to see who the best critics were. Fortunately for the sector, there is no award for armchair criticism.

Honestly speaking, not everything was bad about Zima. Very few people talked about the good things at the awards and so these good things were naturally drowned in negativity. As a country we have perfected the art of negativity. Pull him down! We silently scream.

Let’s not forget that the same critics that were feasting on Zima had their sharp pens drawn out during Nama, the Miss Zimbabwe Pageant and other national events.

Dear reader, before you get me wrong, I am not against critics or criticism. But I have noticed that Zimbabweans have become generally negative about local events and ideas.

Most of the criticism is not even meant to build but destroy. For example Nama is compared to the Oscars or Grammys. Zima is compared to South African Music Awards.

In those comparisons Zimbabwean event organisers are painted as stupid, myopic and backward.

The magic that our people want to see in local events comes with a cost — a cost, funny enough, no one is willing to acknowledge or even shoulder.

The glitz and glamour they expect to see at local events does not come cheap.

Sadly, in our rush to pour scorn on local events we seem to forget that Zimbabwe is going through a very rough economic patch at the moment.

A renowned German artiste Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said “There are three types of readers (read art consumers); one who appreciates without criticising, another who criticises without appreciation and the intermediate one who appreciatively criticises and critically appreciates. This latter one essentially reproduces a work of art again.” I am not in any way suggesting that we appreciate everything without criticising. That would be wrong. That kind of response would not take the arts and the above events anywhere. The second type is also a dangerous one, to always criticise and never see any good in local events is very dangerous and a symptom of self-hate and identity crisis. What is more worrying is the fact that these pseudo critics never get to go and support any of these events by way of patronising them. They always criticise from afar, from Facebook and Whatsapp and the comfort of their homes.

My simple call for now is for us to look at the bigger picture. For fellow Zimbabweans to start appreciating the little we have — the little that some of us are doing. Once we start appreciating our own more will be inspired to do even better. Local initiatives need serious local support not a constant barrage of negative criticism.

Local will be lekker if we start believing there is potential.

There is also a need for serious critical input from the arts sector itself. Artistes and arts practitioners have to engage and be active in whatever fora available for debate and dialogue aimed at improving arts consumption and the standard of performances in Zimbabwe. The sector cannot just look at television or print media for critical evaluation. They must look everywhere. Now the internet, particularly Facebook and Twitter give enormous possibilities for immediate critical responses from the audiences. Nowadays one doesn’t have to wait till morning or till the weekend for a theatre review. People can start talking, critically dissecting the piece of work, immediately after leaving the performance space. And with the aid of latest cell phones pictures can actually be added to the reviews.