The Sunday News
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
IT was billed as the show that would fill the gap left by Oskido’s much loved Kalawa Homecoming.
Besides a change of date from 27 to 28 December, there did not seem to be that much of a difference between the two gigs.
Kalawa had introduced the concept of blockbuster shows to Bulawayo, filling its roster every year with superstars. The Homecoming always delivered a line-up that was the pride and joy of a city and the envy of many promoters around the country.
This was the gig that had brought a platoon of erstwhile kwaito stars to Bulawayo, giving adoring fans a chance to admire Mandoza, Zola and Brown Dash all in one night.
This was the gig that had brought AKA and Cassper Nyovest to the same stage and had the two sending volleys to each other during their respective sets as the fires of their “beef” beneath the cloud heavy skies of Bulawayo.
Many wondered whether the city would be the same anymore when the Homecoming went into decline. When Oskido disavowed his Zimbabwean status earlier in the year, many feared that the proverbial fat lady had sung and indeed the festive season in Bulawayo would lose some of its magic.
Enter the Bulawayo Shutdown! The gig took many by storm and a glance at the tentative roster put out initially by the organisers had revellers and music lovers salivating at the prospect of another troop of stars on one stage yet again.
On the menu there was Nasty C, Mafikizolo and Winky D. That trio alone represented a buffet that was too hard to resist and when the talents of the likes of Killer Kau, Sha Sha and a horde of local acts were added to the platter, 28 December promised to deliver a feast on par with whatever Oskido had ever dished up when the Kalawa Homecoming was supreme.
On the morning of 29 December, however, you would find very few who would call the Bulawayo Shutdown a success. The crowd had been poor, a far cry from the blockbuster numbers that Kalawa used to put up. Sjava as a solo act on 22 December had put up better numbers.
What had gone wrong?
While the stage and organisation had been world class, there were a few problems with the structure of the Shutdown.
A price tag of R250 scared away too many potential attendees, many of whom are used to tickets sold at R100. Inside, the beer prices were exorbitant, with just a simple empty plastic cup costing as much as US$1. A bottle of Jameson Irish whisky went for as much as US$65.
The result was that people only started trickling in when they knew that the main performers would get on stage after midnight.
“Personally, my greatest worry is that the concept of making beer sales the priority is making the music and music concerts suffer,” said local arts guru Raisedon Baya.
“This is what leads to the lumping together of a lot of musicians in one concert in the hope of capitalising on beer sales. For example, at the Bulawayo Shutdown at 10pm everyone was outside saying that they were still drinking because they knew the beer would be expensive inside the venue and Winky D would perform at 3am. It was only at 10pm that the local artistes started performing.
“Someone like me for example wanted to watch Winky D perform but at the same time I didn’t want to sleep at the ground. If you leave for a show and you have family and only come back at 5am, questions will be raised about whether you were really at a show or you were up to mischief,” said Baya.
The gig came after Bulawayo had already hosted well attended shows by DJ Zinhle, Sjava and Da Capo, making burnout among revellers a real possibility. A host of other events, some of them without a single major act, had also been hosted to much success.
“We are pinning a lot of our dreams on the assumption that people will have money in December. For example, promoters will put up posters of an event a few days before it starts with the assumption that people have nothing else to do and are just waiting for us to advertise our shows. That’s why as Intwasa we decided not have any events this time around because we feel like December is too congested,” Baya said.
Mduduzi Mdlongwa of 3D Events also said that the just ended December was one of the congested. Resultantly, the most expensive gig of the festive season might have suffered from reveller burnout.
“The fact is that so many shows were well attended as well considering that this was one of the most jam-packed Decembers in terms of live shows in recent memory. We had shows back to back around the city all over December and people were coming out in their numbers and trying their level best to fill venues. That for me was surprising given the current situation.
“One thing that we struggled with was accessibility of stuff that we need for these shows. Things like beverages and even equipment needed to pull off a successful show were just hard to get and we struggled to put everything in place. Besides that, I would say that the shows that I promote myself I was reasonably happy with,” he said.
While Kalawa’s idea of having a host of superstars on one roster might have worked in the past, Baya said this template did not work so well when a majority of artistes on the bill were up-and-coming acts still trying to make their name.
“This idea of having 20 people in one show is one that we need to do away with. Out of that 20 artiste’s roster you will have two or three big stars and that means 17 of those will be young artistes. I was in the crowd at the Shutdown and some of the comments passed about young artistes were disheartening.
“We have to strike a balance between promoting our young artistes and doing justice to those that paid to watch the show because not everyone there wants to see young artistes. If you have 17 of them and the superstars come in the morning, you end up annoying your crowd which would have got drunk already while waiting for the stars to perform,” said Baya.
