The Sunday News
Raisedon Baya
I AM a serious fan of talent search shows. Be they live or on the small screen. I love seeing young people coming to these shows in their numbers, all in search of the elusive big dream. Yes. The dream is always the same with most contestants. They all want to be the next big star. The objective for most of these talent search shows is also the same — to discover the next big star in front of drooling audiences! It is the same with Idols, Xfactor, The Voice, So You Think You Can Dance, I Want To Sing Gospel and our own Starbrite. Give me a good talent show any day of the week and I will watch it to the end.
Starbrite has been going on and is now headed towards the finals. Among the contestants of this year’s edition was Thandanani Women’s Ensemble. This is a group of old women who have done Bulawayo and many of us in the arts proud. When I first heard that Thandanani Women’s Ensemble had auditioned for Starbrite and made it to the next round I was shocked, then the shock quickly melted into some kind of bitter disappointment.
My disappointment was not about whether the group is talented or not. It was coming from the belief that the group did not need to be in that platform at all and if the organisers of Starbrite had been sincere enough they would have told the old ladies on day one to go home. But they didn’t. In fact, Barney Mpariwa was quoted in one local paper saying “he had not seen Thandanani Women Assembly before and therefore they needed to be discovered.” Hogwash. That statement is pure hogwash and smacks of the Harare attitude that if it’s not known in Harare then it doesn’t exist. Those old ladies were already stars in their own right. They didn’t need discovering.
Here is why I say the old women should not have been allowed anywhere near that talent search show:
1 Thandanani Women’s Ensemble is more than 15 years old. The women have been singing and dancing at prestigious functions before the rebirth of Starbrite.
2 The women have performed for the President, both in Harare and Bulawayo. The question that quickly comes to mind is: Can there be a bigger and better platform in Zimbabwe than performing for the President of the country?
3 Thandanani Women’s Ensemble has performed at various national galas and has been live on television on more than one occasion.
4 The women have also been champions in various traditional competitions in the country and have represented Bulawayo and the country in the region on numerous occasions. They have been to Botswana and South Africa representing Zimbabwe more than once.
Honestly, this is not a group that needs discovering. Promotion, yes. But definitely not discovering. I am certain when the women auditioned the organisers knew they would not win — so for what reason were they pushing them along? Was it for good ratings or other reasons we suspect? Thandani Women’s Ensemble is a traditional dance group. That’s what they do. They will never change and we must respect them for that.
Moving on to something else this past week I had the privilege to attend the Black Umfolosi fundraising show at the National Art Gallery in Bulawayo. The legendary music group has a tour of Canada in November and December and are fundraising for tickets for the tour. Last week’s show had a good turn-out. Although not sold out the audience was impressive. This audience dance. It requested for favourite songs and the group obliged. Then the audience sang along and danced the night away.
