Videos give artistes the edge

producing a single video can be expensive, costing up to US$1 000 for a good one, most gospel artistes have managed to produce videos of selected tracks from their CD albums, an indication they take their music seriously.

Other gospel artistes have gone a step further by producing whole DVD albums, whose sales reflect how the local music market responded well to their music.
While it is fact that profits from DVD sales are usually depressed as a result of piracy in Zimbabwe, research shows that they boost an artiste’s popularity among his or her fans.

In gospel music, one of the main advantages of having a video is that it enhances a song’s spiritual meaning and appeal among the people who enjoy the music.
A video by Donna Chibaya Tagara, titled “Noah”’, combines both taste and quality while the message carried in the song is amplified through the images in the video.
In this video, images are shown of a huge storm that initially darkened the skies and heavy rain soon followed which swept across the whole earth, killing both men and animals while Noah and his family survived in the giant wooden arch.

Although the Old Testament story of the floods may sound familiar to many Christians, the lyrical content coupled with the images in the video clearly gave a new understanding of the historic floods which God allowed to destroy the earth in order to wipe away sin which had polluted the earth.
Other artistes that have done very well on gospel music videos include Charlie Kambudzi, Elvis Munetsi, Ruth Mapfumo, Agatha Murudzwa, Caroline Chipindu, Charles and Olivia Charamba among others.

Kambudzi, who is one of Zimbabwe’s up-coming gospel musicians and has recently launched his third album titled “Zvanaka”, said he was working towards producing videos to all the tracks on this album’.
A video of the song “Pupurai” has received considerable airplay on ZTV’s Prime Gospel Show and the fans’ response bears testimony to the power of videos in gospel music.

“Videos are important in music because they add clarity to a message in a song. So far, I am working on a video for the title track ‘Zvanaka” said Kambudzi.
“I have received numerous requests from people in countries like Australia, United Kingdom and Canada have contacted me through my Facebook page requesting copies of my music,” added Charlie.

Gospel artistes in Zimbabwe should do everything in their power to record videos of their CD albums in order to develop as artistes and also to attract more followers.
To overcome the funding challenges, artistes should find ways to attract sponsorship from their church leaders or other well- wishers who support the arts or gospel music so that resultant videos are both creative and of good quality.