The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
WITH fellow arts promoters cancelling scheduled gigs due to the cholera outbreak, the Shoko Festival hung by a thread.
However, after the containment of the outbreak, the seventh edition of festival finally went ahead.
Sadly, the magic was just not there.
Apparently, the festival is perennially struggling with its marketing.
This was worsened by the limited time they had to market the event after getting the go-ahead from the city fathers.
When they got the green light, they had to rely on social media posts and radio adverts.
Attendance was made free but very few people even knew about the event.
The situation was compounded by the fact that the acts were not crowd pullers. Having Vabati VaJehovah on a Shoko Festival line-up simply does not add up.
The headline act, Moonchild Sanelly, was not known by many, hence people did not bother coming. The South African, however, gave an energetic performance that left attendees begging for more.
Young Tamy Moyo staged an electric performance that showed her artistic maturity. One wonders though, why she is not producing more tracks on a regular basis. She has all the time to make mistakes and bounce back.
Hip-hop act of the moment, Asaph also wowed the crowd with a stellar set.
However, it was obvious that the festival organisers had misfired again by not including a dancehall act. The crowd kept calling for a number of trending dancehall acts to come on stage, particularly Enzo Ishall.
While all seemed gloomy for the festival, the comedy night was a resounding success.
All acts billed to perform came out guns blazing and gave the packed Reps Theatre a good show.
The inaugural drone party also did well. Tech lovers got an opportunity to learn more about drones. There were robust discussions at the Hub Unconference sessions as well as the Hip-Hop Summit.
