Promoters promise more shows for city artistes

BULAWAYO promoters have promised more shows for city artistes this year.

This comes after an outcry by city artistes that they were not given an adequate platform by promoters to perform at most city venues.

Last week, prominent marabi artiste Jeys Marabini said that local promoters were reluctant to give them shows at big venues as they favoured artistes from outside the city.

In an interview, entertainment manager at Hustlers Leisure Centre, Simon Gama said that the club would welcome all Bulawayo artistes with open arms. He said Bulawayo artistes would be given a platform to showcase their skills on stage at the club in 2013.

"This year we are planning to bring a lot of performances by artistes from the city. The club has never shut its doors to artistes from the city and this year will just be a continuation of that," he said.

He said it was a myth that artistes from the city were sidelined at the club, saying all the prominent artistes from the city had thus far been given an opportunity to grace the club's stages.

"I think all the big artistes from the city have been given an opportunity to perform at the club. The likes of Jeys and others have all performed at Hustlers, so artistes have no reason to complain because we as Hustlers have given an opportunity to artistes from here in Bulawayo. We don't seek to divide them about whether they come from Bulawayo or Harare," he said.

Manager at Club Forty40, Andrew Nzombe also said the club would be bringing in more artistes from the city as it was not the club's policy to be discriminatory towards artistes from any part of the country.

"We plan to bring more artistes from here in Bulawayo so people have nothing to worry about. We have never excluded artistes from Bulawayo and performances from the likes of the Cool Crooners last year at the club are just further evidence of that," he said.