GWERU — The Midlands Arts and Cultural Festival (MACFest), which has adopted a national outlook, has been set for September 16 to 21.
Stephen Chadenga
It will bring together artistes from across the country.
MACFest media liaison officer Brenna Matendere told Southern Eye that more than 20 renowned artistes from a variety of music and arts genrés would grace the occasion expected to be the biggest cultural event in the Midlands capital.
“The stage has been set and MACFest is ready to roll come September 16. It will be a week-long cultural festival that will end on Saturday September 21. “Big names in the entertainment industry like Afro-Jazz icon Jeys Marabini, award-winning urban grooves artistes Roki and Mafriq, among others, will grace the event,” Matendere said.
He said the festival would be held at the Midlands Hotel.
Gweru-based reggae artiste, Joseph Nhara — popularly known as Man Soul Jah — famed for the popular hit Mr Government Man and Kwekwe-based sungura artiste, Ronnie Mudhindo, will be part of the big event.
Matendere said this year’s event would be different in that it had adopted a national outlook in a bid to capture the cultural diversity across the country.
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“We no longer just talk of MACFest, but MACFest Zimbabwe. We are departing from being a regional arts and cultural festival to a national one,” he said.
Matendere also revealed that talks were at an advanced stage for MACFest to partner with Harare’s Book Café to run an ongoing arts programme in Gweru.
“We no longer just want to host the cultural festival and end there. There should be ongoing arts programmes in Gweru just like they do in big cities like Harare through the Book Café. So, we are engaging Book Café in that regard,” he said.
MACFest is a brainchild of Gweru-based roots reggae artiste Joe Wailer, who is the director.
