The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
THE Trade Fair has come and gone and as usual it left many of us with a few things to talk about. Yes, a few good things and of course a few bad things. As is now the norm during this period the city comes alive. Company executives and businesspeople from all over the country invaded the city. A few foreigners too also graced our beautiful Bulawayo.
I visited the Trade Fair with friends and colleagues and spent some time at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services stand. The focus on their stand was the Zimbabwe Digital project. It was encouraging to see the general public’s interest in the project. People were taken through the whole television production process, from conception to transmission. It was also interesting to see a number of people submitting their concepts for consideration. If Broadcasting Authority of Zimbabwe (BAZ) keeps its word, as it has done so far, then we are in for exciting times. Local artistes and content creators are surely going to benefit from the project. The general public too as television will never be the same.
From the Zimbabwe Digital stand we visited the Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) stand.
Everyone was talking about it. And when we got there it was so easy to see why the stand was on everyone’s lips. It was a well packaged presentation. Very well thought out. After STEM we set out on the hunt for the Ministry of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Heritage and Culture. So we braved the hot sun and walked from Hall 1 to Hall 4 searching for our ministry’s stand but to our disappointment found nothing. The ministry was not exhibiting. Now how does a ministry that carries a whole sector’s dreams, a sector believed by many to be the window of the nation fail to have a stand at an international platform like ZITF? Everyone knows the economy is bad.
But that did not stop other ministries and Government departments from exhibiting. Even small companies or organisations with yearly budgets 20 times smaller than that of our ministry made efforts to exhibit. But not our ministry. They didn’t even try to have a small cubicle just to show people they existed. This we really don’t understand. How does a ministry with three full parastatals, NACZ, National Galleries and National Museums, fail to have a stand to exhibit? Was it an economic decision or just that the arts and culture are still not regarded as business by the very people who are supposed to be driving the sector?
Away from the ZITF platform artists were busy. There were performances and events almost everywhere. There was the Miss Africa pageant organised by Fingers Modelling Agency. A top class event held in the street and had great entertainment from Sandra Ndebele, Khulio, Mzoe 7, and Calvin. On the theatre front Nhlalo Dube and Styx Mhlanga brought a refreshing and comic look to the otherwise scary subject of witchcraft in their play Ntikoloshe. There was also a Jazz Night meant to honour Dorothy Masuka. (How many times have we honoured uAunty Dot? And when are we going to honour other deserving musicians that have struggled and paved way for others in this country?) I found it rather surprising that the Minister of State, who has nothing to do with arts and culture, had actually a budget to honour an artist — paying flights, performance fees, venue and all and yet our ministry, the very ministry responsible for arts and culture, could not afford to book a stand at the trade fair.
There was the Oliver Mtukudzi show to remember his son Sam. Then there was The Second Coming which failed to live up to its billing. Something went wrong with this show. The crowds were not as big as the December Homecoming Shows. Many critics had varying reasons for the not so good turn-out. Some say the line-up was not that good, that the headline act was not a crowd puller. They claimed Nathi has one hit song that people are really crazy about. The others were good acts, but not that amazing. Other critics say the $10 dollar charge was a bit on the stiff side, more so because there was another big show on the same night charging less. Another group of critics believe there were too many events that night and this split the audiences.
The biggest event last week was without a doubt the Jah Prayzah and Winky D show at the Amphitheatre.
The crowds were massive. It was so chaotic outside that my pocket was picked before I even entered the venue. The chaos outside was just a simple result of lack of planning. Tickets were being sold in a kombi and there was just one security officer who was failing to control the crowds. This was made worse by the absence of someone who could make a quick decision on tickets sales and security. The venue was already packed by 10pm. The crowd was crazy, they were there to party, to dance the night away.
Jah Prayzah is a star. The crowd loved him.
They went crazy the moment he appeared. I had never seen Jah Prayzah on stage before. However, the minute he was walked, or rather marched on stage, it was obvious why he is the man of the moment. I knew Jah Prayzah was an army ambassador but always wondered why. But after watching his performance I now believe that the ambassadorial decision was a stroke of genius. The army is getting so much publicity from this musician. I saw the whole Amphitheatre go crazy when the band did a few army routines.
For the first time I saw our people going crazy about the army. Genius indeed. But more importantly Jah Prayzah’s set is well thought out and well- rehearsed. It was worth every cent we paid. Winky D also did not disappoint. Apart from the chaos at the gate the other disappointment was the sound. Something was not right, especially during Winky D’s performance.
