UPON the streets of Bulawayo as on a million others throughout the world, soccer fans were animatedly trying to come to grips with one of the most shocking experiences in the history of sports: Brazil’s loss to Germany.
In the World Cup semi-final match’s aftermath on Wednesday morning, different commentators the world over variously described the result as shameful and disgusting.
I would be remiss not to add my two cents’ worth to a topical issue which is nonetheless a diversion from the grim reality of payless month-ends!
Art no more Samba soccer is a Brazilian innovation which is really in essence a style of playing soccer with flair, skill and creativity.
It is moreover about delivering entertainment to the audience while scoring the goals to seal victory. A local comparison would be ‘shoe shine piano’ as the then showboating South Africa style of play was lauded upon that nation’s coming out of apartheid isolation.
I remember how Peter Ndlovu and his teammates routed the South Africans at the National Sports Stadium before an ecstatic home crowd.
The South Africans staggered as King Peter slalomed past defenders to shoot into the net etching his name into posterity. The scales fell from Bafana Bafana’s eyes.
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Overseas, samba soccer had the likes of Ronaldinho and Ronaldo as its leading exponents. That generation was one virtuoso artists.
When they gelled, watching Brazil play was like watching a symphony.
Soccer in that era was sheer joy, pure art. . . something sublime and transcendent.
The big fix or just blitzkrieg? It was different though the other night with the current team of Brazilian national soccer players. They were hapless, like an orchestra without a musical score and a conductor!
The world watched in awe at the German annihilation of a great soccer reputation that the likes of Pele helped build. I did not like the way the Brazilian defenders were lethargic in movement. I also did not Filipe Scolari’s reaction after the match. He was consoling his young charges as if they had drawn the match.
Maybe the German machine had been simply too efficient and methodically ruthless.
Maybe money exchanged hands. . . I wonder how many billions were lost in the betting syndicates arena. Oh let me just say Culture Beat is a lover of conspiracy theories. The take away lesson is that, in this world anything is possible.
The beauty chronicles: Bulawayo girls make the grade According to the organisers of Miss Curvy, 46 models from around the country will vie for top honours the Mercy Mushaninga-spawned beauty contest created to celebrate the African full figured woman. Miss Curvy will be held on August 9 at Moth Camp in Kariba.
The pageant will run under the theme “Supporting Domestic Tourism through Beauty Pageants”. Of the 46, Bulawayo has three reps, Kariba and Gweru two each, Bindura one and Harare has 38! Of course I cannot vouch for the curves of Harare girls though their representation at said contest is overwhelming . . .“This time our event is of better standard and the models will get into the boot camp on August 4.
“We decided to come up with this because we want the world to know what will be happening in boot camp so that they understand better why some people are chosen to be the winners,” she said.
Mushaninga launched the pageant to front the cause of curvy girls who shied away from modelling because of the perception that the profession was for tall and slender women.
According to Mushaninga’s press “any woman who has natural curves, physical beauty with ‘brains’ and keeps a flat tummy is eligible to enter the pageant as they do not need to have a serious modelling background”.
Urban radio stations battle for attention escalates on social media In pole position is Power FM which has 135 708 likes followed by ZiFM with 81 322 and Star FM with 53 230 likes on their Facebook pages. Cyberspace is a frontier in which urban radio stations are contending for their share of radio listenership.
Artists are advised to observe these statistics in order to generate hype for their music.
Incidentally Cal-Vin who is on heavy rotation at ZiFM is occupying pole position on the Bulawayo Top Ten Chart which was entry point to the big time.
Zima to recognise the technical behind the scenes people Zimbabwe Music Awards (Zima) will this year honour technical people who play a key role in the music industry by mooting awards for Best Music Video of the Year, Best Engineer of the Year and Best Producer of the Year.
Legendary music producer Joe Maseko of the House of Rising Sound in Gwabalanda will definitely be a shoe in for the awards should he choose to enter.
Maseko has worked far and wide in the region with acts from Sandra Ndebele, Botswana’s multi-platinum selling group Culture Spears and Mexy to name a few. Joe Maseko produced album Kulenyana by Culture Spears sold a reported 500 000 units just a few years back.
Judging panel weak link for Zima Why? They didn’t include Culture Beat! “The Zima judging panel will consist of eight Zimbabwean music experts from the media, retired artistes, music professors and two South African music experts from a record company and well established print media company,” John Nyadzayo spoke according to reports.
Apart from the exclusion of Culture Beat, I would have preferred clarity about who exactly are the members of the judging panel.
I doubt if the Zima organisers can better the Wene Awards team. Work together people.
Call to artists Interested local musicians must submit their entries and necessary accompanying application forms by August 4.
Judging for the awards will be held between August 7 and August 9.
“All recordings submitted for the annual Zimbabwe Music Awards must have been commercially released in Zimbabwe during the period of August 5 2013 to August 4 2014,” a Zima statement of rules reads.
I found the following categories to be mouth-watering and intriguing: best acapella, best alternative music, best dancehall music and best traditional music among others.
Film opportunities THE Institute of Creative Arts for Progress in Africa Trust is inviting talented writers to submit applications for the Film Adaptation workshop to be held from August 18 to 22 as part of the annual International Images Film Festival for Women.
To apply, interested participants must submit a summary of the literary work they want to adapt for film, name and nationality of the author and the publication history if the literary work is published.
Unpublished works for adaptation may be accepted.
A motivation about the reasons for wanting to adapt work for the screen (250 words), Curriculum Vitae and a summary of literary writing, screen-writing and filmmaking experiences (250 words).
Applications should be submitted to projects @icapatrust.org. Enquiries may be directed to 04- 862 355 or 0772 335 451. Deadline for submissions is July 15 July.
