Online Reporter
Maria Chiguvari
Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hub
IN celebrating 15 years of entertainment, the annual Shoko Festival has collaborated with some international organisations to ensure that this year’s event will be a massive show.
The festival organisers have collaborated with UK-based Arcadia, a collection of artists transforming remnants of conflict hardware into art, and ‘In Place of War’, a global organisation which supports artists, creatives and cultural organisations in conflict and crisis zones. Running under the theme ‘The Legacy XV’, the 15th edition of the Shoko Festival is set for September.
The event will be held from September 25-27 across multiple venues in Harare and Chitungwiza.It will celebrate years of pushing artistic boundaries, creative free expression and elevating urban culture in Zimbabwe and beyond. This pioneering collaboration will see the roll out of the ‘Build the Peace’ project at Shoko 2025, a pilot initiative involving a creative exchange between Zimbabwe and the UK, which is all about amplifying hope and community unity. In a statement, Vera Chisvo, the Shoko Festival co-ordinator, said a mural, co-designed by young Zimbabwean and UK urban artists, which was showcased at the UK’s biggest music festival Glastonbury, is coming to Shoko’s Peace in the Hood event in Chitungwiza in September.
“This collaborative project is timely in a world where headlines across the globe are becoming more and more about war and hostility.
“The project is a clarion call for peace in communities, using art and culture as vehicles for positive transformation,” said Chisvo. Building up to the Festival, Zimbabwe’s premier civic tech gathering, ‘The Hub Unconference’, will run from September 24 to 25, under the theme ‘Decolonise the Internet’.
“The event is set to bring together visionary leaders, innovators and change makers to challenge colonial legacies embedded in internet infrastructure, biased AI, foreign disinformation, data governance and digital narratives.”
Comedy lovers are in for a rib-cracking treat with the return of King Kandoro, who has been conquering stages across the globe on his comedy tour.
“King Kandoro’s appearance at Shoko Festival 2025 marks a highly-anticipated homecoming that fans won’t want to miss as he brings his internationally-acclaimed tour back to Zimbabwe.”More acts will be confirmed as the festival dates approach but hip hop lovers are in for a treat with Bagga set to take to the stage.
Bagga fans will be treated to the artist’s new offering, which is set to be released a month before the festival.
Zim Hip Hop 2024 Best Newcomer award winner, Runna Rulez, will grace the Shoko Festival stage along with rising Zimdancehall chanter, Madedido.
Jnr Spragga, who has been topping charts and dominating the trending lists on streaming platforms with his single titled “MaRulez”, will bring the Soul Jah Love reincarnation to Shoko Festival.
