The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
WILL the Harare International Festival of the Arts ever discover its glory of old?
The week-long festival used to have a mouth-watering programme that attracted thousands of local festival goers and many more international guests.
That is no longer the case.
Hifa 2017 had 175 performances compared to 192 in 2015. The number of artistes in the mix has also been on the decline.
The last two editions simply lacked pizzazz. The hype around Hifa no longer exists. Hifa 2018 is days away, but nobody seems to know — or care.
Hifa’s major undoing in the last two editions has been poor selection of performing artistes.
The festival had created a reputation of bringing trending acts on the continent, such as Mi Casa and Salif Keita, who were in Harare when Hifa was at its peak.
Keita’s first performance at Hifa was in 2010. In 2015 they brought him back again, but the truth is that while Keita is a legend, he is not the big draw he once was.
Last year Hifa went for the legends again, roping in Steve Dyer, Oliver Mtukudzi and Habib Koite as the headline acts.
This year is more of the same.
Freshlyground are coming. Yes, they are solid. But are they a headline act for a premier international festival today? No.
Hifa assistant executive director Tafadzwa Simba argues that selection of artistes is influenced by varying audience tastes.
“With an endeavour as large and as varied as Hifa, it is inevitable that there will always be some measure of criticism from parties that have various views and various agendas.
“Nonetheless, the good thing about an annual festival is that there are different things every year. Audiences are not homogeneous but in any event you will find a mix of those who would have liked a particular act and those who would not have,” says Simba.
Maybe it is time Hifa founder Manuel Bagoro stepped aside as artistic director and allow someone else to call the shots.
Bagoro has overseen 16 editions of the festival and no one can slight him for running out of steam after so many good outings.
Simba thinks otherwise .
“What I do know and can be easily verified is that some of the largest festivals in the world have had directors serving their audiences for much longer than that, most going over two decades. These include the Glastonbury, Coachella, Lollapalooza, SXSW, Szigit and Exit festivals.”
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As if the uninspiring choice of performers is not enough, Hifa has also severed ties with some long-time partners.
Hifa will not be partnering Reps Theatre and Theatre in the Park as they have opted to stage their theatre productions at Girls High School.
Also they will not be enlisting the services of a number of artistes that they have worked with in past due to outstanding payment issues.
There are artistes who say they are yet to be paid for last year’s performances.
Theatre in the Park has partnered the disgruntled artistes, in the process coming up with a new programme dubbed “The Fringe”.
The new week-long event will run concurrently with Hifa from May 1 to May 6. Surprisingly the Hifa team is not abreast with developments.
“I am not aware of this Fringe and I cannot speak on behalf of another organisation particularly regarding on why the particular timing was chosen and what the intended outcome is,” said Simba.
“I can only speak on the principles guiding Hifa which include the fact that Hifa will not cannibalise other events or organisations. It is critical that there be as many players in the arts and culture sector in Zimbabwe and we will not ‘door-step’ other organisations.”
Brainchild of The Fringe, Theatre in the Park director Daves Guzha, said he came up with concept to address the concerns of disgruntled artistes.
“We want to accelerate Zimbabwean artistic products particularly from young creatives. (Hifa) will have the more publicly acceptable stuff that costs a lot of money production wise, whereas The Fringe is the poor cousin that has a lot of exciting experimental stuff and we believe that the two can coexist,” said Guzha.
There is no fixed price at The Fringe as festival goers will be asked to pay whatever they can afford.
Guzha says The Fringe is here to stay.
“This is not a new concept at all. World over, big festivals such as Edinburgh and Grahamstown have got something running on the sidelines and that is what we are doing. The Fringe will always run concurrently with Hifa and will take place each year.”
The Fringe will be punctuated by conferences that run every morning, giving a platform for arts practitioners to share ideas.
Children’s theatre programme working on a number of issues that include games (traditional games) and storytelling will then follow.
A number of plays, among them “Operation Restore Regasi”, and live music acts, will be part of the event.
