Bulawayo hosts inaugural carnival

A few months after the Vic Falls and Harare International Carnival, the home of arts - Bulawayo - hosts its first edition of the fete this weekend. Over 20 musicians from the city including Antivirus, Iyasa, Alaina, ASAPH, Mzoe 7, Guluva 7, TKP, Sandra Ndebele, Djembe Monks and One Stand Band are billed to perform at the carnival being held at Hartsfield Tshisa Nyama on Saturday.

DJs Victor Bravo, Mellow T, Slimza, Liz, Crazy Black, Slamma and Wellyonz will take care of business on the decks with Arthur Evans, Joe tha OG, Babongile Sikhonjwa and Saimon "Mambazo" Phiri being MCs.

Organiser of the Bulawayo Music Carnival - Mduduzi Mdlongwa said the festivities would begin at midday as it will be a family gathering. Regular entry tickets have pegged at $3 while those who want to be in the VIP section will have to part with $20. Stalls will also be put in place for artistes to sell their CDs, T-shirts and other promotional material.

Taking a leaf from the just ended Durban Music Carnival, Mdlongwa said besides organising an event conducive for families, their main aim was to expose talent from Bulawayo.

"As 3D Events, we've been promoting artistes from Harare and South Africa and I felt we needed to do more to support our own hence the music carnival.

"There's a lot of talent in this city and it's up to us to expose them. I'm confident they'll be able attract a huge crowd come Saturday," Mdlongwa said. Mdlongwa who has hosted Cassper Nyovest, Black Coffee and Winky D said they were going all out with the carnival as if it were an international artistes' concert.

"We're going big as we want to give local artistes the same treatment we give artistes we usually promote. The stage will match that of international concerts, it's now up to the artistes to prove their worth on the day."