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INTWASA Festival koBulawayo organisers have been challenged by city business people to engage them in organising the annual fete to help it grow. The festival, now in its 11th edition, seems to be failing to make a mark on the city arts scene as it is not so appealing to the general public in Bulawayo.
On Wednesday, one of the highlights of the festival, the opening ceremony which sets the tone, like last year, left a lot to be desired as the show seemed to be trapped in a time warp. It looked like the same traditional dance groups who performed similar dances in previous years were the ones on the City Hall car park stage.
Athough it featured once famous, Afrika Revenge, who tried to entertain the crowd with hits such as Anochengeta and Wanga, there was an air of monotony from most performances.
As a result, Cape to Cairo – home of jazz music in Bulawayo – proprietor Peter Mubi, yesterday urged organisers of the festival to consider partnering them and other show promoters to make the week-long fete enticing.
“I think Intwasa organisers have to be more proactive in organising the festival and identify places where they can strike deals in promoting the fiesta.
“It’s befitting for them to engage us to host events under their banner as we’re the only nightspot in Bulawayo that promotes jazz music,” said Mubi.
Mubi, who in February revamped Cape to Cairo, said Intwasa were probably finding the going tough and needed help.
“At the moment, it is prohibitive to host live bands at any venue. It’d be better for one to work with those (promoters/nightspots) who hold shows all year round.”
He said they would approach Intwasa next year with a proposal to host a jazz festival at the venue.
“Next year, we’ll apply to Intwasa to host some sort of jazz festival at our place and entertain festival goers while promoting the Intwasa brand,” said Mubi.
The festival, which began on Monday, ends tomorrow with a fashion show, comedy night and theatre productions.
Online Reporter