The Sunday News
Ngqwele Dube, Life Correspondent
NJUBE suburb is set to reverberate to the sounds of local music on Africa Day when Salukazi Arts Centre hosts a free-entry concert.
The show aptly named “Africa Day in Njube” is meant to celebrate Africa with dance and music and over 15 acts line up to perform on the day.
The event, a brainchild of Bruce Ncube of Mema Arts and Derrick Tembo of Kaisa 2, is meant to bring audiences in their high density suburbs closer to their musicians while commemorating the continent.
People will get the opportunity to watch acts such as Iyasa, Khuxman, Lady Tshawe, Band With No Name, De Lukes, Ashleigh, Victory Siyanqoba, Khoi Khoi, Hwabaraty, Nobuntu, Khuliyo, Sungura Masters, Ramsey,Carlos, Ezimnyama and MJ Sings among others.
Ncube said they are aiming at making the event a family fun-day with a jumping castle for children while African traditional food will also be on sale.
“The idea of the event is to bring the music closer to the people, we want to give people of Njube and Bulawayo at large an opportunity to see hear, see and interact with top young upcoming and established musicians from around the city.
“We also feel the venue will allow musicians to connect with people that come from their home suburbs,” he said.
Ncube, who is popularly known as Bruno Ashley, said while most musicians live in the high density suburbs they rarely perform in those areas leaving those they live with guessing how good they are on stage.
He said most events are held in the city and surrounding areas meaning those with no transport means to get into town are inherently excluded from these shows.
“We strongly believe that if any musician wants to make it anywhere in this world, your people should be the first port of call, your community should be of great priority in terms of getting access to your work. We have realised our people are deprived of opportunities to see their musicians in action.
“As growing arts organisations we felt it’s time to bring the music to our people, starting with a free show, once people taste it and feel it’s good then we can think of charging at the gates for our musicians to get paid,” said Ncube.
He paid tribute to the musicians who agreed to perform for free at the concert saying without their co-operation the event would not have been possible.
Ncube said African traditional foods will be on sale at the event to accentuate the celebration of the Africa Day.
“We had to dig deep into our pockets to fund the event because we thought it is a worthwhile venture but without the artistes agreeing to perform without charging us it would have been impossible.
“Matesu Dube has also come in to assist organising the event along with Silethemba Magonya who has volunteered to run the “African Kitchen” that would be offering African food. We need to be proud of our identity as Africans and I think it is reflected in the music that would be performed and we thought adding food would widen the celebration of our African culture,” he said.
Salukazi Arts Centre has played home to various arts groups that include Young Warriors, Sadalala, Mema Arts and is home to award-winning Umkhathi Theatre.
The centre was constructed as a beer hall but was later turned into an education centre before being converted into an arts centre.
