daniel chigunwe
Arts Reporter
Of late, it seems local artistes generally are happy hosting shows abroad rather than back home.
One such big festival is the inaugural Zimbabwe Musical and Cultural Festival hosted in the United States by Zimbabwean businessman and arts promoter Beavan Makaka, which was held recently.
The line-up of artistes included gospel hip-hop singer Mudiwahood, urban groove ExQ, Enzo Ishall and songstress Tammy Moyo, who were backed by disc jockeys Levelz and Tamuka in Dallas Tx.
Socialite Jackie Ngarande was the host of the show.
The show was highly attended by mostly Zimbabweans.
In an interview with The Herald Arts, Makaka said even though music was universal there was need to promote it.
He said his main goal of the festival is to give an opportunity to diaspora fans to meet their favourite artistes performing live.
“I am happy the festival went according to script,” said Makaka. “The festival was highly attended to my surprise and what I have discovered is that there is a hunger for local live music.
“We had the festival in two days, with the first part dedicated much of social, music dance, and networking. It also serves as a promotional to the Zimbabwean artistes as they had a meet and greet with their fans as well as exchanging business ideas.”
Makaka, who is working on another festival scheduled in December, said he works with fans and the public in selecting artistes.
“What we do, sometimes we conduct a poll checking, whom they miss and want to see perform,” he said. “This guides us in planning our next move. On the list of those that came, we had a good feel about them and are happy for the next project now. We are targeting the festive holiday and will share the line-up who are coming.”
Makaka expressed interest in bringing more artistes from Zimbabwe to promote talent and cultural diversity through music and art.
“I love working with artistes and I want to create the platform not to do music only, but link them even with other established seasoned artistes, promoters, and companies that can help them to grow,” he said.
A multiple award winner, Makaka, who gained prominent recognition for his contribution to the Zimbabwean music industry, has proven to have an apparent precision to create platforms to showcase some of the country’s most extraordinary talents.
With the successful first edition, the festival is set to draw significant attention in the United States aiming to have a colossal number of attendees from different countries.
Commenting and sharing his experience, Enzol Ishall said it was a great platform as he gained mileage to promote his music.
“I want to thank the organisers for inviting me as I managed to interact with the fans,” he said. “We toured some states including Washington D.C. where we managed to understand and grasp the power of music and how you can use music to make money, as a business. I would be happy to go back again.”
The “Kanjiva” hit-maker supported the notion that they are hosting shows abroad to reach a wider audience.
“Music is an art and we are not running away from our country, rather we are pushing the music and we do shows and come back home. We have fans who would die to meet us live and with help from such promoters, we make it happen,” he said.
“Due to time factor, I didn’t manage to shoot a musical video as expected by many. It was a learning curve and I liked how they do their shows, professionally, no glitches, and wish we could emulate such. The festival has opened doors for me.”
Online Reporter