Online Reporter
Maria Chiguvari
Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hub
RENOWNED veteran poet and philanthropist Albert Nyathi said there are plans for the Inkaba Cultural Festival to be moved from city to city for it to reach more Zimbabweans across the UK.
The festival will take place on August 3 in London and August 9 in Birmingham. In an interview, Nyathi said the Inkaba Festival is a new event designed to celebrate and preserve Zimbabwean culture and identity within its Diaspora community in the UK.
“This is the inaugural one, the idea is to ensure that we promote Zimbabwean culture and identity.
“I have travelled across the globe and I think that you can easily identify people with their origins from the way they dress, the way they speak and even the way they behave sometimes.
“I easily identify Zimbabweans as they walk and talk in supermarkets here in the United Kingdom or anywhere else in the world. So we want to maintain our Ubuntu in spite of being away from home,” he said.
He believes the umbilical cord symbolically connects Zimbabwean children born in the UK to their motherland, emphasising their cultural heritage.
“Remember, Inkaba means umbilical cord. This is symbolic in that although our children are here, they are naturally connected to the motherland through Inkaba, through their uwute, through their umbilical cord.
“I’m aware that some kids can no longer speak Ndebele, Shona, Tonga, Sutu, Venda, Shangan, Nambia, and Kalanga, just to mention a few of our original languages.
“So, eventually, this festival aims to try and see if such books can be provided even in a small way, for elementary learning. And, of course, that goes with their culture, with their dances, language, dance, and games and other things.
“This year’s edition is naturally going to contribute to the efforts to try and preserve our culture and identity.
“So, we want families to come as families and, of course in future, we are going to have workshops that have to do with activities among children and even adults so that eventually it’s not going to be a one day event and this one is going to be mobile.”
He added:
“So, its mobility is seen from this year where you have one in London, one in Birmingham. So, in future, it may move from city to city, like a month of activities.The idea is to ensure that our children have access to these activities so that they feel like it’s home. You have children being helped in terms of artistic expression, cultural expression.
“The festival aims to promote Zimbabwean culture through various activities, including music, dance, storytelling, poetry, fine arts, sculpture, painting and comedy.
“The event will be family-centered, with a focus on preserving the country’s rich cultural heritage.”
