The Sunday Mail
The battle lines have been drawn and it now looks as if South African contemporary jazz outfit Freshlyground have set their sights on a slugfest between themselves and Zimbabwe.
It is a war that has been four years in the making and dates back to soon after their debut show in Zimbabwe at the Harare International Festival of the Arts, for no sooner after their rather lacklustre performance, the group went on to release their derogatory satirical song “Chicken to Change” off their 2010 “Radio Africa” album.
Just like any other country, Zimbabwe is not without its problems and what prompted the group to jump across the border and dabble in political issues that do not concern them, probably only them can answer.
For no Zimbabwean artiste has ever done any caricatures of South Africa, its presidents or personalities, besides that, South Africa is never short of fodder for such caricature.
If anything, Zimbabwean musicians have done songs in solidarity with situations obtaining in the region, rather Africa. So why Freshlyground decided to ridicule our President, only them can best explain. And their explanation that locals have a low sense of humour does not simply wash.
It becomes only logical that local authorities took a stance and denied the group entry on the eve of the closing Hifa act.
As both observers and the Zimbabweans await the next chapter, the sad reality of this tragic tale is that a third party seems to have entered the war and possibly picked the wrong side.
Whilst on one hand we have a 34-year-old nation rich in tradition, values and pride, on the other you have a group fighting for relevance in an ever-growing music industry. And you have the Harare International Festival of the Arts dragging themselves into an issue which they should, on the balance of logic, not be involved in.
Hifa, this past week, sent out a flimsy media release in which they tried to play Switzerland (neutrals) crying foul over the treatment they endured with the Freshlyground debacle.
But sometimes silence is just golden.
No portion of blame has been placed on the organisation except those of obstinacy and probably a bit of tom-foolery. Hifa’s decision to book the group as their closing act, in fact pegging the ticket at $25 for that matter, made next to no sense given their trashy song, made in the name of artistic expression, was but a cheap attempt at re-igniting relevance.
Freshlyground are nowhere near the force they once were, in the South African and the regional music industry, as their last offering failed to reach the critical acclaim of products like “Jika Jika” (2003) and Nomvula (2006), let alone their 2010 World Cup collaboration with Shakira, “Waka Waka”.
Hifa had hordes of options, both local and foreign, to chose from for a more entertaining closing act. But it looks like, in a bid to re-invent itself, Hifa tried to stretch the envelope a bit too thin.
Hence controversial plays and acts were thrown into the fray, the hope being that they will ignite debate, with the intent result that the festival be cast as the victim.
The play “Lovers in Time”, a drama that portrays Mbuya Nehanda as a man and Sekuru Kaguvi as a woman, who are transported into modern time, before being hanged by drunk whites, drew the ire of theatre lovers.
It was distortion of our history at the most.
Another act of theirs, that was distasteful and courted controversy, was “Bend It Like Beauty”, which had sexual innuendo, all point towards a festival that is bent on wanting to court controversy to survive into the next one. And if they expected the authorities to ban Durban-based Toya Delazy, then they should have been disappointed.
On the other hand, sizzling local acts were ignored, with dancehall extraordinaire Winky D being denied any “inside” slots but was rather moved to First Street.
Mbira prodigy Hope Masike was also reduced to an after-thought as she had to share the stage with a host of other artistes, going under the name Kunzwana. Now is that how to treat the next mbira sensation?
Never mind Audius Mtawarira.
Whereas Hifa was, in the middle of the week, adamant that they would be bringing Freshlyground back into the country sooner, sooner than the next festival, that the musical group took to social media and said Zimbabweans have a low sense of humour, will not help much in that regard. Neither was their post on Twitter: “We regret to announce that we were denied entry into Zim today “reasons not given”. We are hugely disappointed. Cluck cluck cluck”.
