MUSICIAN and Zimbabwe Music Rights Association (Zimura) Bulawayo manager Clarence Garura wants gospel groups to complement one another instead of competing to outdo each other.
NONHLANHLA SIBANDA OWN CORRESPONDENT
He said his desire was for gospel artistes to unite and complement each other for them to advance the work of God.
Garura has organised an inaugural joint gospel show dubbed Gospel Live Concert billed for April 10, which will be followed by fortnightly gospel music shows in an endeavour to unite gospel musicians in Bulawayo and cultivate the spirit of unity among them.
The concert will feature an array of performances by local artistes that include upcoming gospel group Crème Voices, Rudo Armor, Kira, a cappella group Conquerors Africa, the seven-member female gospel group One Way to Heaven, gospel ensemble Destiny Praise and the interdenominational group Vocal Extraordinaire at the Rainbow Elite 400 Cinema.
Garura, affectionately known as Kira, said he had been planning the project for the past two years.
“This is my brainchild and I have had this plan since 2013. It is a partnership between Kirah Music, Rainbow Cinemas, Outfit Band and Live Sound Media,” Garura said.
“After the 10th of April, the Gospel Live Concert will be held every fortnight as we need to make Gospel Live a household name and for people to get to know their musicians thereby gradually building a music industry and later on introducing musicians to the music business.
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“This is done in an endeavour to unite gospel musicians in Bulawayo and cultivate the spirit of unity among musicians. During my walk in the gospel music road I have personally suffered at the hands of other fellow gospel musicians to the extent of having sound distorted or switched off while I am ministering on stage. I realised there is a spirit of competition among gospel musicians instead of complementing one another and learning from each other.”
He said gospel musicians should understand that their music goes beyond performance as it is a ministry and should touch the hearts of many.
“My idea is concentrating on the level of artistic approach of gospel musicians as God himself is an artist. From creation to everything God does, one sees the high level of artistic approach.
“We need to professionalise even the praise and worship teams in churches by not necessarily having to pay them (though paying them is good), but by investing in state-of-art sound systems and instruments and developing them in various artistic fields.”
Garura said if one were to ask for assistance from fellow musicians, the first question they would pose is how much you are going to pay them.
It was against this backdrop, he said, that he developed the idea and vision of uniting gospel musicians and to promote and nurture talent through planned concerts.
“You will find that we are not charging much so that people come in their numbers until such a time when they have confidence in the concerts and trust musicians.”
