admin
Although traditional music and dance have always featured in the mass games displays, no choreographed traditional music and dance items in their original cultural format were featured in previous mass games displays.
This year a group of performing artistes with drums, hosho, hwamanda, mbira and wood clappers were brought on to climax the mass games displays with a highly polished choreography.
The performance featured mbira, mbakumba, mhande, amabhiza and dinhe dances under the solid sound base of mbende/jerusarema dance, declared by Unesco as a masterpiece of human creative genius.
What was outstanding about this cultural item was not just the aesthetically magnificent choreography but also the presentation of some of the nation’s leading music and dance masters such as the maestro mbende/jerusarema drummer Douglas Vambe and gwenyambiras such as Mbuya Dyoko, Irene Chigamba and Sekuru Chigamba among others.
Even among the dancers were masters and well-known custodians of traditional dances who executed the dances with sensitivity to cultural identity of the dances balanced well with the desire to effectively narrate the story conveyed by the choreographed dance.
It has always been a daunting task to appropriately amplify traditional musical instruments while retaining their unique traditional sounds, which intricately establish the rich diversity of our cultural expressions.
Indeed, it is not an easy task to stage a traditional dance choreography in a huge open stadium like the National Sports Stadium and achieve the initial objective of presenting an intangible cultural heritage with its critical meaning and significance.
It was equally fascinating to see and feel the unity in the choreographed piece where most of the dances performed retained their original form although the mbende/jerusarema dance was presented in a form that is opposite to the idea of safeguarding this intangible cultural heritage.
The idea of presenting women dancing to each or with each other in mbende/jerusarema dance is part of the destruction of the dance which the Unesco plan of action on safeguarding the dance which was initiated with funds in-trust from the government of Japan.
It must be appreciated that even in such creative choreographs there are certain features of traditional dances that should be maintained and projected prominently even if the original function of the dance is not being taken into consideration. It was the adjustment of mbende/jerusarema when performed before dignitaries that was slowly destroying the critical form and symbolic representation, meaning and value of the dance and its uniqueness.
The way the mbira dance item was presented with in its original function of expressing respect and reverence to leaders, guests and recognition of the omnipotent presence of the ancestral spirits, was vividly portrayed by the water pot dance by women.
This was consistent with the “mawuya” welcoming song and the celebratory texture of the mbira music itself. The various versions of the mbira dance performed including the “ngondo” movements even though without the symbolic weapons of defence, was appropriate for the occasion which in itself was a remembrance “bira” for those who fought to liberate the land and its people from colonial occupation.
What was also very good about the cultural diversity item was the original sound of the music and the accompanying gesticulatory non-verbal movements and actions that carried the meaning of the celebratory performance.
One did not need to visualise the physical manifestations of the performance to appreciate what the event was all about because of the recognisability of the unique Zimbabwean sounds.
The hosho (hand rattles) accurately resonanced with the dances and led the songs in a rare quality of unison often difficult to create in expanse and open-air performance areas.
The last time a choreography of Zimbabwean traditional dances was successfully rendered at a celebratory function was the opening of the Sadc Dance Festival 10 years or so ago.
It was when Irene Chigamba joined hands with other former members of the National Dance Company to combine a large spectrum of traditional dances of Zimbabwe to eloquently present the rich diversity of cultural expressions of Zimbabwe. That time the number of performing artistes featured was much smaller than that which presented the cultural diversity item at the 31st independence cnniversary celebrations.
Given resources and time to prepare, the choreographers could have extended the dance and music item to include the unique Tonga drum and horn sound, the Ndebele, Suthu, Venda and Ndau dances as well as those of immigrant communities that are now a feature of the diversity of the cultural expressions of Zimbabwe.
The choreographers of the cultural diversity item should be congratulated not just for creating a meaningful, well -timed and paced traditional performing art item but also for the choice of performing artistes able to demonstrate a wide diversity of traditional dance forms.
However, the choreographers of such shows, including those of the other displays, must constantly be aware that they are not performing only for the VIP stand but for all those in the stadium.
There were moments in the cultural diversity item when dancing facing the southern, eastern and northern stands could have demonstrated that the item is not only for the VIP stand on the western side of the stadium.
The cultural diversity item was a good example of traditional performing art forms which should also be featured in all national musical galas which have hitherto ignore traditional performing arts in preference for guitar-based musical performances and rhumba, ragga, kwaito and hip-hop dances thereby limiting the diversity of cultural expressions.
The Department of Arts and Culture demonstrated clearly that traditional performing art forms can be presented with the requisite imaginative creativity thrust that can be adapted to the type of stage chosen for presentation. In fact, such creativity provide the core of our cultural identity.
It was humbling for the performing arts fraternity that the President, in the beginning of his address to the nation on this grand event, acknowledges in his protocol salutations, the presence and participation of performing artistes. This is a critical acknowledgement of the people who make such celebratory events appealing, informative, educative and entertaining instead of just lumping them in the ladies, and gentlemen, comrades and friends category.
Also welcomet was the engagement of Rev Paul Damasane, the Principal Director of Sport, Arts and Culture and veteran broadcaster and linguist Alyson Mfiri as commentators of the mass games and cultural diversity item.
Both gentlemen are versatile poets who could have begun the programme with poetic chants in Shona and Ndebele calling on those in the spirit world of ancestors to join in this remembrance bira of freedom.
[email protected]
Online Reporter