Zimbabwe readies for National Day at Osaka Expo

Golden Sibanda, Zimpapers Writer

ZIMBABWE will give the world a cultural handshake when a 12-member ensemble delivers a 40-minute-long cultural performance during Zimbabwe’s National Day celebrations at Expo 2025 Osaka in Japan, next week.

National Day celebrations at Expo 2025 Osaka are a significant opportunity for participating countries to showcase their culture, promote international friendship, and foster global cooperation.

The events allow participating nations to highlight their unique identities and engage in cultural exchanges with other participants and visitors. Zimbabwe’s National Day, July 16, 2025, will feature a variety of activities, including an official ceremony, cultural displays, a business forum, and a musical concert.

Held as part of Zimbabwe’s participation at the six-month-long global expo, the event will showcase the country’s rich cultural heritage and economic potential.

Titled “Great Zimbabwe”, the ensemble’s cultural performance will take the world on a theatrical journey and a profound artistic narrative of Zimbabwe’s cultural heritage, showcasing the country’s collective identity, past, present and future.

The performance is a celebration of the true spirit of the Zimbabwean people told through vibrant dance, music, movement, and theatrical storytelling interwoven with mbira music and captivating traditional dances such as amabhiza, mhande, jerusalema, isitshikitsha, muchongoyo and mbakumba.

The ensemble is not a singular group, but a composite of talented artists picked from the country’s 10 provinces, as part of a deliberate and profound reflection of the Government’s devolution agenda of ensuring that “no one and no place is left behind”.

The 2025 World Expo in Osaka, Japan, which started on April 13 and ends on October 13, 2025, features participation from 158 countries and regions, along with seven international organisations, making it the largest number of international participants ever seen at an expo held in Japan.

Themed “Designing Future Society for Our Lives”, the event seeks to explore how countries can create a sustainable and resilient future through global collaboration and the sharing of ideas and technologies.

Zimbabwe’s participation in the global expo aims to promote Brand Zimbabwe through showcasing the country’s social and cultural diversity as well as promoting domestic tourism, investment, and trade opportunities.

Zimbabwe’s theme at the Osaka 2025 Expo is “Beyond the Limits”.

The theme is inspired by the country’s Vision 2030 aspirations of achieving upper-middle income status and highlights the nation’s resilience and potential in overcoming various challenges, including sanctions, natural disasters, and the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Government appointed Mr Allan Majuru, the chief executive officer of ZimTrade, as its Commissioner General for Expo 2025 Osaka.

Speaking during the special preview of the performance on Friday, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (CEO) Mr Napoleon Nyanhi said the production was steeped in symbolism, drawing from the heart of Zimbabwe’s rich history and diverse voices from the country’s 10 provinces.

“We chose the title Great Zimbabwe because it is more than a monument, it is a message. In the 11th century, Great Zimbabwe was not just a royal city, it was a centre of industry, commerce and architecture.

“It is the clearest reminder that Zimbabwe has always been a nation of builders, of artisans, of traders, connected to the global economy long before the modern era.

“The stonewalls of Great Zimbabwe were not cemented by mortar, but by craftsmanship and collective strength. It is the same spirit of building Zimbabwe stone by stone, brick by brick, that this performance celebrates. Every dance, every drumbeat, every costume tells the story ‘Beyond the limits’.

“As we look to Expo 2025 Osaka, this performance will be our cultural handshake with the world. It will showcase Zimbabwe’s creativity, cultural depth and historical pride to a global audience.

“More than that, it is a platform for cultural diplomacy, an opportunity to position Zimbabwe as a culturally confident, economically ambitious and globally connected nation,” he said.

Mr Nyanhi added that the performance was not just entertainment, but a strategic act of storytelling, showing the world that Zimbabwe was “not a country of yesterday’s greatness, but a people of enduring innovation and strength”.

Reverend Paul Damasane, the Deputy Chief Secretary to the President and Cabinet, Responsible for Social Services, was among the guests who attended the preview of the ensemble’s performance and gave brief remarks and suggestions on what the ensemble needed to do to perfect and improve its act.

“You always notice that a nation has to go a long way, do a lot of work to show itself to the world.

“Remember, out of all the countries of the world, on that particular day its only about an hour for you. The expo doesn’t stop by the way, but the owners of the expo and the big guys just come for that hour to celebrate with you on your national day.

“So, it is important to really break the leg, as we say.

“What you need to do, colleagues, as you are dancing khululekani, sungunukai (feel free). You could drop your hat, or something, just doesn’t go too well, do not let us see it, make it part of the style. I really want you to get Zimbabwe understood, that this is us. Let me also come to our colleagues, who have come to watch and to give us all these comments, you have given us very sound comments that make us want to think about whether our arts are literally speaking to what you want.

“The fact that you can correct and you can suggest something better, means you are Zimbabweans, and means that you know what should be there. And what we ask you to do is be part of what these artists do.

“Do not only be a person who comes to see their performance, but be part of what they do. Get in touch with the National Arts Council (of Zimbabwe) and contribute to their development,” Rev Damasane said.