The Sunday News
It is very sad that musicians and almost all top musical groups and actors from the Southern Region have decided to relocate to other parts of the country including the capital Harare.
We all know that when it comes to preserving our culture Bulawayo is leading while other provinces follow but to my big surprise we have very few artistes left in this Southern region of Zimbabwe as most of them complain that if they continue doing their business here they will die of poverty since music promoters will only consider those in Harare. I asked some of the musicians why is it that once a musician or those actors who are involved in dramas become popular the next thing you hear is that he or she has moved to other areas, mainly Harare. These artistes openly said there is lack of support from fans.
One of the Bulawayo-born musicians who is new doing wonders in Harare attacked fans from this region accusing them of not buying their music even if the same music CDs are selling like hot cakes in Harare. The artiste complained that he cannot sing for free only to please his people when the cost of producing a single CD was now beyond the reach of musicians. The late Marko Sibanda is on record when he criticised people from Matabeleland for not buying his records although some of them like the popular Matsotsi Hagerani went on to become Record of the Year in 1996. His other works, Jambanja Pahotera was also one of the biggest records the country had since Independence in 1980 but the singer complained that people were not giving him maximum support, that is why he decided to remain in Chitungwiza with his Insiza brothers after leaving Kassongo band.
We were all shocked when Innocent Mpala of the Thobelani Boys decided to abandon Hwange and moved to Harare where he not only forgot about singing in his Nambya language but he changed the name of the group to Zim Select, something which left residents of the mining town of Hwange fuming with anger.
We urge you to support our local musicians by buying original discs from record bars and other music dealers to avoid exodus of the artistes to other urban centres. We hope police officers will also play their part by arresting all those who are pirating music as this has made life very difficult especially for up-and-coming artistes.
Lawrence Moyo,
Jambezi, Hwange.
