The Sunday News
Asaph stuns Harare
LOCAL rapper and ShadeoGrey brand ambassador Asaph recently set Harare on fire with his performance at Mosaic, a food and music cultural festival held in the capital.
It was his first invitation to the festival which took place on 10 September.
“It was the first time the Mosaic organisers contacted my team personally without the help of my Bulawayo promoter so my BurgBoiz team was very excited about the trip to Harare.
“I had to take some members of the team so as to fully represent. I went with Lesley, our photographer and DJ Miles and overall it was a great experience,” said Asaph in an interview with Sunday Life.
The BurgBoiz team got to meet and interact with Lochnation, Ruvheneko and other industry big sharks.
“We were pretty star struck rubbing shoulders with people who make the industry go. I finally got to connect with Zimbabwe’s Hip-hop legend Begotten Sun.
The trip was to try and build relationships and I believe good music and collaborations will spring from the foundations we built during the festival. Also it was great seeing that I could hold my own in a Harare crowd and the Harare audience finally got to put a face to the name Asaph” he said.
Asaph is currently working on Kingsvilla2, a sequel to last year’s Kingsvilla EP.
The project features 11 tracks, some of them collaborations with Cal_Vin and will be out on 30 September. – Nkosilesisa Ncube. Twitter: @nkocykay
Vadzimu records seeks to connect cities
A Harare based recording company, Vadzimu Records has initiated a concept to connect cities in Zimbabwe and beyond through music and cultural activities.
Director of Vadzimu Records, Stuart Martin said they want to use arts to advocate for various issues and challenges affecting Zimbabweans and in Southern Africa.
“In the Southern African region there are rich cultural traditions and a strong foundation in the creative industries. Festivals generally happen without collaborations among artistes and many venues do not co-ordinate programming. Booking for tours is something that most artistes don’t really understand while some have difficulties in finding adequate time to perform on stage.”
Martin who is also a visual artist said they have established collaborations with festival organisers in Lusaka, Zambia and have also operated numerous shows and events across Zimbabwe. – Sukoluhle Ndlovu
Amagugu partners Alliance Francaise for Film in the Bush AMAGUGU International Heritage Centre has entered into a partnership with Alliance Francaise to regularly screen films in the remote rural areas in Matobo, Matabeleland South.
The initiative was inaugurated last year and is now a branded event known as Film in the Bush.
Amagugu programmes officer Butholezwe Nyathi said the venture was in response to the poor television reception in the Matobo area.
“We take access to television for granted because it is always in our homes but there are people who do not access local television and we are giving them the experience that they are missing out on,” Nyathi said.
After each screening, a dialogue is held among the villagers to discuss the content of the film screened.
“We saw it fit to use film to facilitate social dialogue. Because of this we screen films that are relevant to the lifestyle in Matobo so that villagers reflect on the content and apply it to their everyday lives. In the last session we played a film about abuse of women and how domestic abuse manifests itself in the community. It was interesting to see women particularly actively taking part in the discussion because traditional communication channels do not always allow women to be vocal,” said Nyathi.
In the next session which will be held at Amagugu International Heritage Centre on 24 September, two French films with English subtitles will be on show.
The two films, Le Havre and Exil explore immigration as a central theme, exploring the push and pull factors around migration and pointing out the drivers of illegal migration. Nyathi said their target for these particular films were schoolchildren from Whitewater Schools, which are located near the heritage centre.
“Children in Matobo are notorious for moving to South Africa and Botswana at very early ages and by showing these two films to them, we hope to open their eyes to the reality of migration, and also to encourage them that if they do decide to migrate, they should do so safely and legally,” he said.
He said there would be a song and dance session after the screenings and during this session the Whitewater schools’ drama clubs would interact with Victory Siyanqoba, a local contemporary dance group to help the school children incorporate contemporary dance into their traditional dance routine.
The day’s events will be closed off by a nature walk and mountain climbing. Atop the mountain which overlooks the Njelele and Matojeni Mountains, attendants will be treated to the Amagugu trademark braaii on the rocks. – Nkosilesisa Ncube.
Twitter: @nkocykay
