The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
WHILE many local festivals are finding the going tough and some even folding, the unique Miombo Music Festival seems to be growing with each edition. Now in its fifth year, the festival is slated for May 27 to 29 at its Christon Bank home in Mazowe.
Festival organisers have added a couple of new elements to the programme to give attendees more time to enjoy the best of local music in a very distinctive setting.
“We have always wanted to do two nights, but we just weren’t sure if the demand was there,” said festival director Gus Le Briepon. “But, after last year’s success, it seems there are enough courageous people willing to brave the cooler nights and come out to Christon Bank to make it worth our while.
“So, it’s an experiment, but we hope it will work out. We also found the costs of organising and staging a music festival in the bush are so high that you can’t really recover them in one night.”
Miombo has never brought in any international acts to headline or perform.
Said Gus; “Miombo Magic is all about promoting local talent. We have such an abundance of talent in Zimbabwe, there’s never any need to look outside for it. It’s all right here on our doorstep.
“The biggest challenge for Zimbabwean artistes is the lack of diversity in venues and crowds. Miombo provides a very special and matchless opportunity to play to a more diverse crowd in a very different setting. The bands that perform here find it to be hugely valuable experience and exposure, and many have gone on to do great things building from their experiences at Miombo.” On the selection criteria and why they did not incorporate the dominant genre of Zim dancehall, Gus explained, “Each year we search the country far and wide for promising new artistes and there are always far more bands wanting to perform at Miombo than we can accommodate. So we pick and choose.
“Generally we try to change the artistes every year, but when you get a band like Mokoomba, who no matter how many times they perform, always seem to up their game yet again, we invite them back. I’m thrilled to say Mokoomba will be performing again this year, and I can guarantee that, once again, they will do something different to astound and amaze the audience. Because that’s the kind of band they are. One really important factor for me in selecting artistes is diversity. We are not a dancehall festival. We are not a jazz festival. We are not a rock festival. We are a music festival. And when we choose musical acts, we like those who are doing something a bit different.
“If you look carefully at the line-up, you will notice we almost never put two artistes of similar musical genres next to each other. So you will have an afro-jazz band, followed by a rock band, followed by a reggae band. If you are in the crowd and you like rock, you will obviously enjoy the rock band. But you will also hear the other two. And you may not like them, which is fine, but at least you will have listened to them.
“You might just find that actually you really dig the vibe from the reggae guys and that the afro-jazz singer was pretty awesome too, suddenly your appreciation and respect for different genres has grown. We won’t be having dancehall acts this year, but for sure 2017 will see us bring our first dancehall artiste to the Miombo stage.” Funding has been a major impediment in the growth of local festivals due to lack of support from the corporate sector. But for Miombo it is a totally different scenario as they have never relied on support from anyone. “Funding is every festival director’s nightmare. However, we have a very simple strategy. Miombo Magic is funded entirely through ticket sales. We have no corporate sponsors and no donors. Just the festival-goers.
“Although that severely restricts our options, it does mean that we are our own bosses, and we don’t have to dance to anyone else’s tune. It also means we don’t have to spoil our beautiful outdoor venue with big corporate branding logos.”
Many reading this will wonder why such a festival is not known to them, the answer is simple; the organisers do not aggressively market the festival. Some have said it is yet another elitist festival for white people and uptown folk. Gus responded to this thus: “We haven’t aggressively marketed the festival. The main reason for that is simply that the venue is quite small and, because people are camping, space is limited. So we can’t afford to overcrowd it, otherwise people won’t enjoy the experience.
“We want people to have fun, so we keep the numbers limited and encourage everyone who wants to come to buy their tickets in advance so they know they can get in and once the tickets are sold out, that’s it. We won’t let anyone else in.” Apart from the extra day added, there is an after party format for the first time.
We are very excited to announce Jah Prayzah’s first ever appearance at Miombo Magic this year. He will be closing the show on Sunday, and we couldn’t think of a better act to finish up with. Other local artistes performing are Ammara Brown, Vee Mukarati, Macy and Djembe Monks among many others.
“We are thrilled to have several Zimbabwean artistes who live and work overseas coming home just to perform at this festival. Included in this will be Mathias Julius, who is currently based in the USA and whose stunning reggae vocals are strongly evocative of Lucky Dube. Also the incredible Anita Zengeza, who studies at the Conservatory in Barcelona and brings a unique Latin flavour to her music and of course, Gemma Griffiths, who’s now based in Cape Town and is one of Zimbabwe’s fastest growing international stars.
“The after party is a deliberate strategy to satisfy the needs of the all-night party goers whilst ensuring that the campers who want to sleep aren’t disturbed. Last year the late night revelers took their party back to the campsite, which was a bit challenging for those who were trying to sleep. So this year we thought we’d introduce an after party venue where the late night revellers can party all they want without disturbing anyone else.” The name Miombo Music is derived from the msasa woodlands that dominate much of Zimbabwe’s landscape.
“The festival takes place in a piece of pristine miombo woodland, and we wanted the name to celebrate the beauty and magic of our stunning Zimbabwean landscape. The festival was primarily set up as a fundraising event to support our desperately under-resourced local Christon Bank Primary School. The other unique element of Miombo is the camping out at the festival site. In many other countries, camping out is a huge part of the festival experience. The festival started in 2012, and the basic format hasn’t changed since then. There is one stage only, and the music runs continuously from band to band.”
