Entertainment / Local
Bulawayo Comes Alive music festival set for next month
16 Apr 2013 at 08:37hrs | Views
BULAWAYO will next month reverberate to the sounds of local music when a host of acts from the region converge at Masina Sports Bar in the Bulawayo Comes Alive music festival.
The music extravaganza is expected to see over 20 musicians dish out their stuff in an all-night show at the sports bar in Luveve.
The show, which is expected to bring local music to the fore, is scheduled for 24 May.
There have been constant cries by local musicians that they are left out of live shows and hopefully this will give them the opportunity to reach out to local audiences.
A spokesman for the organisers of the event, Nkululeko Nkala, said they had started making preparations for the music gala as they have secured a venue.
He said they were engaging artistes expected to perform on the day.
"We want to bring all the Bulawayo musicians together for one big show where they can dish out their stuff to local audiences.
"At the moment it is premature for us to name the artistes who will perform at the event because we are still in discussions with them. We will release the list of participants once we have finalised the agreements with the musicians," he said.
Nkala said they decided to use Masina as the venue to move away from the city centre and give an opportunity to people staying in the Western suburbs of the city.
"We are staying in the tradition of the festival, which was first held at Pata Pata Sports Bar in 2007. We also feel it should be within the reach of music lovers who stay in the western areas as they are our target market. They are usually left out or have to struggle when they attend shows in the city," he said.
Time and again local musicians have decried marginalisation by music promoters whom they accuse of preferring to bring in foreign artistes or musicians from other regions at their expense.
Local music fans also seem to have turned their backs on their musicians, as foreign artistes tend to attract bigger crowds than local artistes.
It is going to be a test for the singers to be able to attract a huge crowd and simultaneously win the hearts of the fans.
Some of the musicians and dance groups that could perform at the 12-hour all-night show include Black Umfolosi, Jeys Marabini, Chase Skuza, Kkuxxman, Iyasa, Ndolwane Super Sounds, Sandra Ndebele, Willis Watafi, Cool Crooners, Ndux Junior, Umdumo wesizwe, Tukuye Super Sounds, Isizukulwane, Otis Ngwabi, Impumelelo Shinning Stars, Obadia Matulana, Siyaya, Djembe Monks, Gabz Fire, Mchez'nana and Hudson Simbarashe among others.
Bulawayo Comes Alive is an initiative of Majahawodwa Ndlovu aka Jeys Marabini and the first edition was held in 2007. The showcase was meant to be an annual music extravaganza but lack of funding has hampered the hosting of the fiesta over the past years.
This will be the second edition of the festival.
The music extravaganza is expected to see over 20 musicians dish out their stuff in an all-night show at the sports bar in Luveve.
The show, which is expected to bring local music to the fore, is scheduled for 24 May.
There have been constant cries by local musicians that they are left out of live shows and hopefully this will give them the opportunity to reach out to local audiences.
A spokesman for the organisers of the event, Nkululeko Nkala, said they had started making preparations for the music gala as they have secured a venue.
He said they were engaging artistes expected to perform on the day.
"We want to bring all the Bulawayo musicians together for one big show where they can dish out their stuff to local audiences.
"At the moment it is premature for us to name the artistes who will perform at the event because we are still in discussions with them. We will release the list of participants once we have finalised the agreements with the musicians," he said.
Nkala said they decided to use Masina as the venue to move away from the city centre and give an opportunity to people staying in the Western suburbs of the city.
"We are staying in the tradition of the festival, which was first held at Pata Pata Sports Bar in 2007. We also feel it should be within the reach of music lovers who stay in the western areas as they are our target market. They are usually left out or have to struggle when they attend shows in the city," he said.
Time and again local musicians have decried marginalisation by music promoters whom they accuse of preferring to bring in foreign artistes or musicians from other regions at their expense.
Local music fans also seem to have turned their backs on their musicians, as foreign artistes tend to attract bigger crowds than local artistes.
It is going to be a test for the singers to be able to attract a huge crowd and simultaneously win the hearts of the fans.
Some of the musicians and dance groups that could perform at the 12-hour all-night show include Black Umfolosi, Jeys Marabini, Chase Skuza, Kkuxxman, Iyasa, Ndolwane Super Sounds, Sandra Ndebele, Willis Watafi, Cool Crooners, Ndux Junior, Umdumo wesizwe, Tukuye Super Sounds, Isizukulwane, Otis Ngwabi, Impumelelo Shinning Stars, Obadia Matulana, Siyaya, Djembe Monks, Gabz Fire, Mchez'nana and Hudson Simbarashe among others.
Bulawayo Comes Alive is an initiative of Majahawodwa Ndlovu aka Jeys Marabini and the first edition was held in 2007. The showcase was meant to be an annual music extravaganza but lack of funding has hampered the hosting of the fiesta over the past years.
This will be the second edition of the festival.
Source - SN
