Promoters look South

Yeukai Karengezeka Entertainment Reporter
Many South Africans that have toured the country this year as music promoters shifted their focus from overseas artistes to performers across the Limpopo River.
Over the last couple of years, promoters stampeded to host musicians from the United States and Jamaica.
The obsession with US musicians turned sour when the late musician Prince Tendai brought in Akon and Sean Paul for a mega gig and suffered monumental losses.

Promoters continued to jostle for Jamaican musicians until last year. This year, the trend has changed and South African musicians have taken over.

Lira, Freddy Gwala, Winnie Mashaba, Mi Casa and Ringo are some of the South African musicians that have performed in the country in addition to a host of club DJs that regularly cross the Limpopo.

Zahara performs in Harare on December 20 in her second show in the country this year.
Most of them said they would have wanted to concentrate on local artistes at the moment but their acts had become monotonous.
Some shows featuring the cream of local musicians have flopped because their acts have become boring and predictable.

Recently the “Zim’s Finest” gig, which featured four popular musicians, namely Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi, Suluman Chimbetu, Alick Macheso and Jah Prayzah was a notable failure.

Promoters have no option but to look for alternatives to sustain their businesses.
Promoters who spoke to Herald Entertainment said hiring South African musicians makes business sense at a time of liquidity crunch because the musicians charge reasonable performance fees while travelling costs are affordable.

Chris Musabayane of Greenfill Trading Promotions, who brought Zahara and Lira this year, said they opt for SA artistes because of their reasonable charges.

Musabayane is also responsible for Zahara’s December 20 show.
“It is natural that as Zimbabweans we are more exposed to the SA market and personally prefer them because their charges are reasonable.

“People are tired of seeing local faces every time at the same places so they end up not coming and I make losses,” he said.
Events co-ordinator Partson Chimbodza feels that it is good to blend local musicians with the South African performers who are loved by many Zimbabweans.

“The majority of fans are getting tired of seeing the same local musicians over and over again so what they need is variety. To captivate them, we are introducing South African artistes at times,” he said.

Red Rose Entertainment representative Tawanda Chingara said: “Bringing in SA artistes spices up local shows and breaks the monotony of seeing the same acts. Fans want something new and exciting.

“Still our local artistes are benefiting too because they share the stage with them,” he said.
However, most local artistes have complained that they play second fiddle to international artistes yet they also have good acts.

The musicians say the same promoters that mistreat them when there is a foreign musician are the ones that approach them for shows featuring local acts only.

“We are made to feel inferior when there is a foreign musician in town but the same promoters come to us asking to be main acts at their shows featuring local acts,” said one musician.

Responding to these allegations, promoters concurred that foreign artistes are needed to break monotony.
They said there is no mistreatment involved but attention naturally shifts to a visitor in any social set-up.