The Sunday News
Nhlalwenhle Ngwenya
ALL female Imbube group Nobuntu, for the past six years almost endorsed the expression that “a prophet is not appreciated in his home land,” until last week Saturday when they were nominated for their first award on Bulawayo Arts Awards set to be held on 30 June.
Nobuntu is nominated for outstanding Imbube Group/Act alongside Family Voices and shining Impumelelo Shining Stars, in the Bulawayo Arts Awards that are going to be held for the first time this year.
The globetrotting imbube female group has extensively toured Europe and even got nominated for Zimbabwe International Women’s Awards (Ziwa) which are panelled from the UK by a group of diasporans.
As an all female accapella group and probably the first from Bulawayo to be ambassadors of the genre in foreign countries, being nominated for the awards doesn’t translate into an automatic win.
The notable arts and culture sector in Zimbabwe, according to a book titled Status of Women in the Arts and Culture Sector is a space that is traditionally dominated by men both at management and at individual artiste level.
Considering the cut throat competition especially from male counterparts, who dominate most musical genres in Zimbabwe, Nobuntu is approaching the awards chin high as they believe that the best artiste will emerge victorious.
“We are excited to be nominated for the award. Coming from our people this means a lot. We believe that people are going to vote, as a result people will vote for the best group. We are optimistic that we will win. It’s just all about the best group out there and we believe that people are in a position to give an appropriate response to that through their vote,” said member and Nobuntu’s spokesperson Duduzile Sibanda.
Despite that female artistes in the local circles are struggling to make it in the arts industry Nobuntu has proved beyond doubt that they can take head on any performance terrain without suffering bruises, thus they said they are undeterred by the tense competition they are subjected to in the coming awards.
After six years of effort Sibanda said they are humbled by the fist nomination in Zimbabwe and praised local artistes for perseverance and pioneering the arts globally.
“We are glad that Bulawayo is finally having its own awards. This shows that there is unity among artistes in Bulawayo. A lot of artistes have been pushing their work nationally and internationally, it’s finally paying off. These are tough times but local artistes haven’t given up and these awards just came in handy to celebrate that,” said Sibanda.
With two albums to their name, Sibanda added that they are preparing to take to the recording booth in a few months to come up with another album.
