| Bagorro's Next Challenge |
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| Culture - Inside Art | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Friday, 29 May 2009 15:15 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Since its initiation in 2001, HIFA has, year after year (except in 2002 when the festival was cancelled due to presidential elections), attracted some of the biggest artistic talents in the world and sold out audiences to most of their shows. They have won acclaim for not just being able to put on a world class event, but for being able to do so in a country that was, until recently, going through some of the most challenging politico-economic times that the world has ever seen. This success has stupefied many visitors to the festival both local and international. In a country where everything else seemed to be falling apart here was a world class festival that even Zimbabwe’s richer, more stable, southern neighbour, South Afrca, could not measure up to. “Perhaps when the world is looking in your direction and counting down to economic and civil collapse, the only thing to do is to build a giant stage and start thinking the impossible,” wrote the UK’s Observer of the festival in 2008, as they too tried to understand the HIFA phenomenon. With such an impressive track record, it seems HIFA has all its ducks in a line. However, there are quacks of discontent from several quarters… Feeling Left Out- Local Artists A few weeks ago, even as Harare braced itself for HIFA’s much awaited 10th anniversary festival, there were rumblings in the wind from discontented members of the arts community who felt that the giant festival did not represent them or their interests. A recent article in the weekly Sunday Mail newspaper raised the issue about HIFA not giving a platform to big name local artists. The following week they published a response from HIFA which listed some of the notable local artists who have performed at the festival over the years. Did this put that argument to rest? We don’t know yet.
^ Serious moment. HIFA executive director, Maria Wilson. Some local artists taking part in the festival claimed that they were treated less favourably by the organisers of HIFA than their international counterparts. “Why should international artists get paid more than us?” was the general refrain. HIFA responded that international artists were paid by the embassies and organisations that brought them to Zimbabwe for the festival while local artists were paid from gate takings at the various shows. Either they didn’t say it loudly enough, or someone did not like their answer, because there are still complaints from artists that are sung to this same tune. He also attributed HIFA’s success to the local artistic community and said, “Of course we would like to offer higher fees and engage even more Zimbabwean artists and groups but we are working within severe economic constraints and do as much as we possibly can with the limited resources we have (See his full response in our article: One on One with Manuel Bagorro).” Who is HIFA For? There were also some journalists who pointed out, during this year’s HIFA, that it seemed as if the festival catered for the entertainment pleasure of the more affluent members of Zimbabwe’s society and was not relevant to the majority of people on the street. This is a critique that has come up a number of times over the years and it seems to have increased in volume as the festival has grown. This year one journalist, Ish Mafundikwa, even went to Mbare to interview people there about the festival and says he found that many of the people he spoke to did not know what HIFA was. Others had heard about it, but were not sure what it was. Whether in response to these voices or not, HIFA has over the years tried to cater for local tastes by bringing in local artists to afternoon main stage shows, so that poorer people can attend and get home without the transport hassles associated with evening shows. These have included the late Simon Chimbetu, Dudu Manhenga, Shingisai Suluma and most recently, Alick Macheso. They have also had a number of other local acts at smaller venues. This year they also had free lunch time shows in Harare’s 1st Street mall.
^ A HIFA Press Conference, April 2009. As HIFA has grown it has come under increasing scrutiny from the press. “HIFA is elitist,” said one other journalist, “they finally brought Alick Macheso this year after pressure from people. Why did it take so long?” The Challenge At one press conference during the 2009 festival, Executive Director of HIFA, Maria Wilson joked, “I’m not sure if I am loved or hated in this town anymore.” She had a point. I wasn’t even on the organising team for HIFA but I got the same vibe. It’s as if the amazing success of HIFA has made everyone in the arts industry stop and ask themselves: “How does this festival relate to me?” If they like the answer to that question, fine. If not, woe unto HIFA. I think that we have reached this point is a good thing. The HIFA team needs to be proud that they have built something so big that it is important enough to draw criticism and acclaim from so many quarters. It is unhealthy though to have so many people in the industry think that you do not represent them or regard you with disdain. It is unhealthy to have an event this important to the arts and to tourism be so uncelebrated by so many. Therein lies the challenge for Bagorro and his team. A similar set of challenges lies on the other side of the fence. Local artists need to also realise that HIFA brings with it many opportunities for them to grow, to be seen and to network with other artists. The question for them is how can they make use of HIFA to do this? How can they engage HIFA and put their concerns on their table in a way that will result in a win-win for both sides?
(See also our one on one interview with Manuel Bagorro as he answers questions on some of the issues raised in this article). - By Fungai Tichawangana Share this page...
3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved." |
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From the Picture Archives
Zimbabwe's Miss World 2008 representative, Cynthia Muvirimi, poses during a photo shoot for the pageant. Unfortunately Cynthia was not among the winners for the pageant which was held on 13th December in Johannesburg South Africa. (Photo: Miss World) |
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