The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
UK-based music firm Y2K Promotions has announced its arrival on Zimbabwe’s showbiz scene with the inaugural edition of the Southern Africa Music and Arts Festival, which is being headlined by Jamaican star Busy Signal.
The festival is to be held in Bulawayo and Harare, with gigs on August 4 and 5 respectively. “The coming of the Sama festival to Zimbabwe is a huge milestone for us as Y2K Promotions,” said company representative Brian Hazangwi. “As many know, since our formation in the year 2000, we have been hosting the SAMA festival annually in the UK featuring a variety of Zimbabwean artistes from the emerging to the established.
“We believe that time has come for us to start hosting the festival in Zimbabwe and also start making a footprint on the local showbiz scene.” In October 2015, Busy Signal delivered a breathtaking performance at Harare’s Glamis Arena. “Since Busy Signal’s debut performance in the country in 2015, there have been a lot of requests coming through from fans to have the star return to Zimbabwe. We have been closely monitoring what has been happening on the ground for the past year and a half, we are convinced that despite the coming in of other Jamaican hotshots after the epic Busy Signal show, he can still return and pull a good crowd.
“We finally concluded that Busy was the right candidate to headline the inaugural SAMA fest in Zimbabwe by asking fans to vote on our Facebook page. From the names we put forward, Busy came out as the favourite,” Hazangwi said. “Bulawayo fans have in the past felt left out as most of the major artistes are brought to Harare and only a few who can then make the long trip to the capital get to party with the stars.
“So having the festival in the two cities is actually a response to the pleas by music fans in Bulawayo. Let me also take this opportunity to let revellers know that SAMA will be an annual event to be hosted in two cities with one of them being Harare.” The Bulawayo festivities will include artistes such as Winky D, South Africa’s Busiswa, Judgement Yard, Cal_Vin and Killer T; while the Harare bash will feature Takura, Dadza D, Soul Jah Love and Freeman among other dancehall stars.
The gigs do not start and end in August for Y2K Promotions in Zimbabwe. Said Hazangwi: “We want to tell music lovers that they shall be spoilt for choice this year as we will be hosting another big international artiste this September. The name shall be revealed soon but for now we want to keep fans guessing. “Let me also hasten to say that the complaints by other non-reggae-dancehall fans who are feeling starved have been heard. Y2K will be hosting international artistes from other genres, but to mark our entry in Zimbabwe we wanted to go with what is trending.
“Currently, reggae-dancehall is the trending genre locally and there is no better way to announce our arrival on the Zimbabwean showbiz scene than to go with the flow.” Hazangwi said Y2K wanted to help Zimbabwean artistes penetrate the global showbiz scene.
“Another facet that we are bringing to the Zimbabwean market is that of assisting local artistes breakthrough on the global stage. We have a lot of talented artistes in Zimbabwe who are struggling to make it on the global stage due to various reasons.
“As a company we will avail our resources and networks to local artistes so that they can also showcase what they have on the global stage and compete with the world icons.”
