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Tafadzwa Zimoyo
Lifestyle Editor
Today’s temperature is at 19 degrees Celsius in Harare and that has been the range in the past week.
This year, July has been exceedingly sassy.
In giving cold weather, the month has shown great temperament with an unforgiving combination of drizzle and chilly cloudy weather.
Even the sun has been forced to hide behind the clouds, leaving mother earth, starved of the all-important rays, which is equally telling.
Outdoor showbiz has been extremely affected. Many musical shows, weddings, parties, and theatre performances, among others, have been cancelled or postponed until August when July will have receded.
Main reason – the fans and revellers have decided to stay home because of the cold, obviously in fear of catch the flu bug or worse Covid-19 virus.
Even the visit by American boxing champion Floyd Mayweather was dampened by the chilly weather, as the expected colourful plumage of fashion in his huge entourage was determined by the temperatures.
Forget about the nice cars, the hullabaloo, and little everything else, weather ruled.
The worst affected were music promoters, with shows lined up in open-air venues like gardens, stadiums or pave ways for roadshows being postponed to another date. So dire is the situation that those holding their events in closed venues have been greatly affected because they also need to heat up the spaces.
With events planners and music promoters banking on numbers, July has just started on a sad note for them.
The only few shows staged around the capital have witnessed paltry crowds.
Those who attended the just-ended Winter Warmer Concert held at Harare Gardens recently, can testify that it attracted a paltry crowd.
Though the event was successful, at least according to the organisers, with sungura giant Alick Macheso and gospel music singer Dorcas Moyo, headlining the show, it would have been anticipated to be a full house on any normal day.
Rhumba star Diamond Musica, Mathias Mhere and Silent Killer were also part of the line-up for the Harare Gardens show.
After extensively marketing the show, fans stayed away and the promoter could not believe what hit him after going overdrive marketing the family show held on July 2.
After the Harare Gardens debacle, a number of promoters are now afraid to hold their events due to the chilly weather.
Some have said that the only shows being held at the moment are those booked in small venues where artists are paid flat fees for a few patrons.
But there some major shows in the cities which are going on as planned, with the clubbing scene being still alive.
Both dingy bars and trendiest nightclubs still attract regular patrons as the events are held in closed venues. But theatre venues have been badily affected as most fans are now staying away.
The Herald on Saturday Lifestyle caught up with some promoters, event organisers, wedding planners, and revellers who shared how July has affected them.
Theatre practitioner Daves Guzha said the cold spell has slowed down traffic at Theatre in the Park.
“We are, however, minimising evening events and focusing on corporate events during the day. The winter has slowed the production in general,” he said.
“We are also working on equipping our auditorium with heat pump systems to accommodate audiences during this cold weather. Remember, we have events everyday, including Sundays. The most notable this week is the graduation ceremony for the female arts practitioners who have been part of our digital training programme being done with support from the Ministry of ICT and Cyber Security and co-hosted by the Zimbabwe Female Arts Practitioners Platform (ZIFAPPA) on Friday 14 July 2023.”
Guzha said the arts sector was one of the most resilient sectors in the country.
“There is so much going on, with so many film, theatre and musical productions having been successfully worked on after the global Covid-19 pandemic. Many creative and cultural institutions and individual practitioners have been affected, but they have resumed operations despite their financial crises,” he said.
“There is also a need for support by the Government, private sector and ordinary people in rebuilding a sustainable industry. There are so many brilliant ideas that only need a generous hand for them to be coming alive.”
Prominent arts promoter, Patson Chimbodza, affectionately as Chipaz in the showbiz circles, said for now he has shelved events until further notice.
“Definitely, the weather has a big bearing to events, the cold season will affect revellers to attend as the environment, especially outdoors, won’t be conducive,” he said.
Chipaz said some of the indoor venues that take good numbers were expensive, hence the industry gets affected.
“We will do events after winter. Currently, the only way is to do indoor concerts that attract sizeable numbers in venues,” he said. “Our arts sector greatly needs to corporate support and we are happy that a few companies are endorsing artistes, but we request more input in reaching out.”
Events planner and artist manager Nokuthula Chari said it was difficult to host events now because people were not coming outdoors.
“People do not want to come out once indoors, we are hard-pressed to get volumes for paid events,” she said. “We are moving the dates or reducing the ticket prices and inviting more seat fillers, that is people we offer free spaces to build numbers. This winter has slow production and increased cost as we need to hire gas heaters.”
For comedian and founder member of Little Theatre, Jasen Mpepho, there has been a decline in the number of patrons coming to watch shows at the theatre.
“We can attribute this to the low temperatures we have been experiencing over the past few days. But we are saying to our patrons, don’t worry we have you covered with ‘mbauras’,” he said.
Mphepo said outdoor events during winter will not work.
“It’s best to move towards planning indoor events until the winter is over and maybe move to outdoor during spring,” he said.
Commenting on the current state of arts sector, Mphepo said it was stagnant.
“Theatre is in a stagnant state, however, we are trying, but struggling. Theatre is under-resourced, no corporates are willing to support us,” he said.
“Despite the theatre self-funding and relying on volunteers, we have been keeping theatre alive in Harare through producing and or hosting at least one theatre production to satisfy the theatre appetite of our patronage.
“I can say that it is so discouraging that sport gets support while the arts remain in the doldrums.”
Popular hosting company, Premium Prestige, chief executive Tinashe Goredema, had other views on events.
“I cannot clearly say it’s the winter that has affected shows, but rather spacing and planning of different events,” he said. “Lately, it’s like there is a standard to maintain out there and it’s the same people same crowd in terms of setup and guests. For outdoor or indoor it is about pricing.”
Monica Mpofu (32), a hairstylist by profession, said she will not stop going out.
“Winter has always been here and nothing will stop us from having fun. I think promoters should accommodate the situation of having heaters and so forth,” she said.
Online Reporter