Be it rainy, nippy or sunny, the HIFA party isn’t stopping!
The 18th edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) roared into life yesterday punctuated with a lot of captivating local and international artistic presentations, as well as some unpredictable weather conditions.
When the day started it was all cool and sunny, then it became very cold and suddenly it began to drizzle.
The highlight of DAY1 was the traditional opening night which was very well attended despite the fact that the heavens were opened and rains were pouring down, signalling the beginning of winter.
Over 1500 people with umbrellas, raincoats and some just simply cuddling to their loved ones, watched through a vail of rain, the HIFA main stage come alive with some eclectic and energetic presentations which reflected on the festival theme, ‘We Count’.
Kudos to visiting American director, James Blaszko for curating a cool opening show because had it been boring, the people would have surely left.
As usual it was a night of artistic explosion as dancers, musicians, acrobats and spoken word artists were mixed together to entertain the crowd for a full 90 minutes.
The highlight of the show saw mbira princess, Hope Masike being suspended in mid-air as Dereck Mpofu accompanied by some scintillating ballerinas entertained the crowd – a purely magical moment.
However, there were some instances were the presentation was a bit flat and this could be because there were just too many elements being fused together. But fortunately it was not a train smash scenario.
As the band played the last song, the fireworks lit the dark rainy sky, in true HIFA spirit, much to the delight of the wet crowd.
 roared into life yesterday punctuated with a lot of captivating local and international artistic presentations, as well as some unpredictable weather conditions. When the day started it was all cool and sunny,...Read More){kind=link}