Bayethe 2016 Women's Day Festival: Cheaper, more fruitful and more cosmopolitan

JOHANNESBURG - Exactly seven days after they commemorated the life and achievements of nationalist and former Vice President - Joshua Mqabuko kaNyongolo Nkomo, SA-based Zimbabweans will this weekend head back to the Hillbrow Theatre in Johannesburg for the re-designed Bayethe Women's Day Music Festival.

The event, which began as a strictly gospel show when it was launched in August 2011, is now open to various genres. This follows calls for it to accommodate both musicians and fans of other musical genres in the celebration that is held in line with South Africa's Women's Day holiday.

Musically, this year's event will be a strictly Zimbabwean affair, with musicians from the predominantly maskandi, gospel, poetry and isicathamiya genres dominating the cosmopolitan entertainment menu. Among musicians set to belt out their stuff on the stage are maskandi groups that include the award-winning Zinjaziyamluma, Amachwane Amahle, Insukamini, Amabhukudwana and Inkunzi Zomanzamnyama; high-flying gospel groups like Izwi Lesiphelo, Ben Masuku, Sisters of Paradise, The Nations, The Chosen Brothers, Umkhumbi ka Noah and Givemore as; Isicathamiya groups like Satma nominees Inkanyezi Zezulu and Amabhubesi as well as poets like the popular Bongani Ncube and Gugulethu Clerence Ndlovu.

This year's event will also be graced by motivational health speeches from traditional partner Green World, Unjani Clinic and and traders from EcoCash, who will also provide various free services to revellers.

As part of celebrating the first edition of their cooperation with Bayethe Music in this show, Green World will provide free health scans for all willing women during the show. Normally, the scans are charged at R150 per person per scan.

EcoCash will be selling Call Home lines and registering Zimbabweans for the EcoCash, an easy, reliable, cheap and fast way of sending cash to friends and relatives back home, while Unjani Clinic will also give free health-tips and advice to those who will be attending the show.

Maskandi singer Zinjaziyamluma, who comes to the show exactly a week after he won the Joshua Nkomo award for his ground-breaking and exemplary role as a Zimbabwean musician based in South Africa, promised to live up to his expectations of being an entertainer of note – one of the best Zimbabwe has seen since the advent of the maskandi music genre.

"Once I get on the stage, I give it my all and people should come prepared to see the best they have always seen of Zinjaziyamluma," said the Tsholotsho-born singer, who has performed in filled-up venues in Zimbabwe, Johannesburg and Durban.

Caroline Ncube leads Izwi Lesiphelo, who have been a part of the show's headline acts since it started five years ago. She said her group would use the event to introduce their fourth album titled, "Siyabonga".

"This has always been our main show of the year and that is why we are using it to introduce our new album aptly titled 'Siyabonga', which is a thank you release to the Almighty God, who gave us the talent and our fans, who have stood with us since we broke into the music scene in 2011.

"We are especially grateful for the support we have had, including the high sales we have recorded with each of our albums, especially our 2014 release - Ngenzintando kaBaba, which has been our most successful project in terms of both sales and public appeal."

Izwi Lesiphelo did not record last year, as they still enjoyed the success of their third album. The album is currently doing well on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation's National FM studios, where their track number one - Yona Nayo is many a listener's favourite.

"We will also use the show to shoot our first-ever DVD, which we will release before the end of this year and fans who attend will be part of that DVD."

This year's show, slated for 12-8pm, will see entry fees slashed from last year's R100 per adult and R50 for a child to just R40 per adult and R20 per child to accommodate more fans.