Hello, my friends. A very heart-warming welcome to the new year. I so much look forward to sharing laughter and great moments with you.
DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY
I must say I hope this year we do things differently in terms of our working relationships. I am talking about event organisers and music promoters, amongst others.
This year, we will not be following up on tickets, tags, and invitations to events that we are also expected to cover. Hahaha!
They snub us, we snub them.
LET’S STAY RELEVANT
This year, we want to see logical progress in event curation—i.e., the inclusion of necessary people—unlike the Bulawayo Shut Down, whose line-up is usually significantly not composed of Bulawayo artists.
If ever they are included, they are relegated to curtain-raisers. Phew!!! What a joke! By the way, Mr. Rice (Shutdown chief promoter), you have also developed a reputation among local journalists for using them and making them beg you for tickets at the gates for your shows. Change your ways.
The Pichani is said to be on the cards this year. I also implore the event organiser, Gilmore Tee, to stop using it as a way of classifying which local artists are prominent and which ones are not. On paper, the event is about networking and growing opportunities for local artists, but on the ground, it’s a showroom of who’s who in the industry. Do better this year, Gilmore.
MORE COLLABORATION
In the same breath, I give you free advice about the power of collaboration this year, my colleagues. We often hear of workshops on artist empowerment, but when you look at the line-up of the “educators,” you could almost laugh or cry, depending on your wits. An example is Asaph’s Kwela Initiative, which is always centred on himself and his followers. If you are going to have a mentorship programme for upcoming musicians, at least include in your line-up of speakers a radio presenter, a print journalist, an online blogger, a publicist, and a music promoter. Otherwise, you will end up like those guys who record 500 songs for their 15 friends to stream, and it ends there. This is free advice. Take it and do better.
BUILD BETTER BRANDS
Let us build better brands for ourselves through our reputations. Be well known for being a nice person who is easy to work with, and other brands will gravitate toward you. I say this while cringing in memoriam of Maxine Tekere’s embarrassing behaviour last year at the Bulawayo Theatre during the Comedy Roast of Saimon Mambazo, where she was smoking indoors, screaming at the audience, and generally behaving bizarrely. Such tendencies easily chase away fellow collaborators. Let’s normalise greeting people when we arrive at a gathering, because you never know whom you are talking to. Many have coldly ignored the very main person they have gathered for, only to see them take to the podium later.
HOPING FOR A SIMILAR NUST SRC
Last year, the Nust SRC, particularly the entertainment minister Blessing Charlie, truly changed things. Historically, local artists from Matabeleland have always cried out at being sidelined during the anticipated Miss NUST Pageant, while the likes of Holy Ten, Voltz JT, Saint Floew, and Kae Chaps have always been paid thousands of dollars to travel from Harare to perform. Charlie reshuffled the cards and made the Bulawayo-based event largely about Bulawayo talent. We hope we will have a similar Minister of Entertainment this year.
Alright, my friends. Cheers! Take great care of yourselves for now as we ease into the 2020s. Remember to reach out on Instagram @SouthernEye_SE.
Happy New Year, my friends.
