The Sunday News
LAST week I was in the border town attending the 3rd edition of Beitbridge International Festival of the Arts (Bifa). It was my first time at Bifa and what a memorable time. I was particularly impressed by the “togetherness” of Bulawayo artistes who travelled all the way to Beitbridge to support the festival.
It is this kind of solidarity that will incubate serious synergies and collaboration among artistes. It is this spirit of togetherness that will change the arts landscape in Bulawayo.
Anyway, Beitbridge was hot and so were the acts that went on stage. Particularly impressive were Winky D, Iyasa, Siyaya, Kupenya Stars and Africa Direction from Zambia.
Judgement Yard drew a good crowd but I discovered that night that they were not my cup of tea. But the crowds loved them. Festivals are about crowds, not personal tastes. Bifa must be commended for realising this in their programming.
I want to talk about the Midlands State University music department. The department must be commended for bringing two separate sets of performances to the festival.
The university had the electronic band and the mbira band. Both were good, if truth be told they actually play much better than some professional bands that audiences have been made to pay to watch.
I loved the mbira set much more, perhaps so because the mbira spoke to me more. One or two of their songs reminded me of the late Chiwoniso Maraire.
The mbira sound was perfect. The vocals too, they were above average. My only disappointment with the band, a disappointment which actually fuelled the writing of this piece, was costume. It was poorly thought out. I guess each band member was asked to choose their own costume and so each wore what they liked.
The impression I got, and I wasn’t alone there, was that either they didn’t take the band or the festival seriously. Well, I believe performance is a ritual and costume is part of that ritual. Proper costume adds to the seriousness of one’s performance.
There must be a difference between a rehearsal and an actual performance and usually the costume helps add that seriousness to a live performance.
Perhaps I am old-fashioned but I want to see artistes dressing up for a performance. I want to be blown up by the visual an artiste presents on stage. A live performance has to offer more than just good sound and good choreography.
I have said this before and will say it again; I hate to spend the day with an artiste and then when he is called on stage he just walks up the stage and starts performing — worse performing in the same costume he spent the day in. If Michael Jackson had adopted the same attitude would he have reached the levels he reached? I pause this question to every artiste who goes on stage to perform.
I strongly believe costume adds value to a performance. Perhaps this is why the Iyasa, Siyaya, Winky D, Kupenya Stars and the Zambians’ performances were memorable. Their performances were well thought out, from vocals, instruments, stage usage and the image of the groups themselves.
The Beitbridge festival also left me confused, especially about what good music is about? Do people appreciate good music or they are merely looking for something that makes them crazy?
I am asking this because I saw good performances, with good music, going unappreciated and even being booed offstage while some acts whose talents were quite in doubt were the crowd’s favourite, sending them in fits of craziness. And this got me really confused. In fact, I am still confused and hoping one day someone will sit me down and break it down for me.
Is good music what people go to concerts for? If not what is it that they go looking for at concerts and live shows?
