The Sunday News
Rumbidzai Mhlanga, Sunday Life Reporter
The annual Bulawayo Winter Carnival has given an opportunity to upcoming artistes to showcase their talents and sell their brands.
The carnival celebrated its fifth anniversary last week at a local night club and was organised by the Blak Troop. One of the organisers, Xolani Ncube, popularly known as Joe the OG, said the event gave young artistes a platform to test their skills and showcase their talents.
“The idea came when I realised that most events do not feature artistes who are not popular, most promoters would rather work with someone who already has a following. Looking at Bulawayo artistes most people think they cannot pull a big crowd but with the carnivals we have proved that they actually can if this is done in a certain way.
“For the past five years I have been working with artistes I realised that there is no need for us to call South African or Harare acts for us to pull crowds, but our local artistes can do it if groomed and mentored the right way,” he added.
He said this year’s event had performing artistes, carnival models and fashion designers. There were over 20 artistes and 18 models.
“Artistes were not only performing to entertain the audience but were also marketing themselves hence at the end of the event two groups African Seeds and DR Love NJ won free recording deals from 4Life Studios. I appreciate everyone’s support, 4Life Studios and Melow Works Studios for giving the artistes incentives and our hosts,” he added.
The line-up last Saturday featured among others Spinx, Kid Spooky, Lamas, Love Angel-Bhud’abasabisayo and Empress Mimz. There were also established artistes like Mzoe 7, Floppy X and POY.
