The Sunday News
Joel Tsvakwi , Sunday Life Reporter
UP-AND-coming gospel artistes have expressed concern at their exclusion from participating in national events saying they are not passive voices in society and deserve a chance to be heard.
Echoing their sentiments on the eve of the just ended Heroes holidays, gospel artistes said they, like their secular music counterparts should be accorded the same opportunity to market themselves using national event platforms.
In an interview with Sunday Life, Andrea Dube who hails from Dete in Matabeleland North province said up-and-coming gospel artistes were also a unique component of the whole citizenry.
“It is sad that on national events which are held annually or when there is need, gospel artistes particularly us up-and-coming are not invited to showcase what we are capable of alongside other fellow artistes,” said Dube.
Dube said he was conversant with the mainstream languages in the country which he uses in his music to reach out to his diverse base of gospel fans.
He added that he was on a mission to promote his home area languages Nambya and Tonga to strengthen the appreciation and advance interest among would-be artistes from his home area.
“I use a lot of methods to market my home languages but it is through staging shows on national events which will strengthen my efforts and appreciation of my home languages. It is through these national events from our respective areas that we can shine in our mother tongues,” said Dube.
Meanwhile, the Matabeleland Gospel Association (MGA) co-founders Given Siyabonga and Fundani Ndebele echoed Dube’s sentiments calling for budding gospel artistes to be considered for national event performances.
The two are also gospel artistes on their own right with Ndebele based in Johannesburg.
The association was formed in September 2015 with the purpose of helping mainly up-and-coming gospel artistes in Matabeleland to get established in the music industry.
“We up-and-coming gospel artistes should be included on national events in our respective regions to help us to have the necessary exposure. More so, organisers of these events should refrain from making us perform for free, if they appreciate us with something little it will be better than nothing,” Ndebele said.
He added that his organisation was a platform of interaction for artistes to consolidate their networks and review their work.
“We organise outdoor functions and invite experts who help us with ideas on how best we can manage and market our music.
We encourage artistes who sing in little known languages to register their music with Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (Zimura) and submit them to radio stations so that at least they can reap something through airplay proceeds,” he added.
Twitter: @joeltsvakwi
