The Sunday Mail
Takudzwa Chihambakwe
“UNITY is strength when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.” These are the words of the late award-winning American poet Mattie Stepanek.
Sadly, there is no unity among our musicians.
After seeing some local artistes attack BrandMe Investments marshalled by Josey Mahachi for bringing in Nigerian music kingpin Don Jazzy last week for a free workshop, it is clear the artistes are not pulling in the same direction.
And though many hide behind financial constraints as the major obstacle for their development, after their reaction to the workshop, even if Donald Trump were to pour in his billions, nothing tangible would be produced.
One of the artistes who was vocal on social media was hip-hop singer Anonzi Xndr Mutumha, who posted the following statement on his Facebook timeline: “Somebody paid Don Jazzy (famous in Nigeria) to come do a workshop to help our industry, but they won’t pay 10 percent of that for a Zim artiste as a brand ambassador for their local brand … Somebody needs a beating.”
BrandMe Investments simply wanted to create a platform for local artistes to engage with an award-winning African artiste/producer to get insights on how it’s done, much like we see when businesspeople invite their renowned international counterparts over.
Another sad reality was that only artistes in genres that pull the smallest crowds were present at the workshop. The majority were from the limping urban grooves movement and a few rising hip-hop acts. No notable dancehall acts, sungura icons or contemporary hotshots were present, though Jah Prayzah showed up – briefly.
Don Jazzy and his crew that featured one of his artistes under his The Mavins label, Dr Sid, spoke on the need to have a powerful social media presence, building a good brand, packaging music as a business, and some pointers on how to produce quality videos.
“There was a point in Nigeria that people did not seemingly care about local music,” said Don Jazzy, “DJs preferred international content as opposed to our productions.
“It was so bad that at one point Awilo Longomba was the biggest artiste in Nigeria as if we did not have our own. At one point a Nigerian music label signed a Ghanaian artiste, again as if we did not exist.
“However, we started to work hard. We would drop songs one after the other and pushed them on the streets regardless of whether we were making money or not. All we wanted was to get our material to the fans. The market became saturated with our content and radios could no longer ignore us.
“Before you knew it, club DJs started playing the music and after putting in more work here we are today. The lawmakers also helped by making sure that local radios play 70 percent local content,” he shared.
This story is similar to that of Zim dancehall.
When the movement started nobody cared. DJs said, “This content is poor quality.” But because the artists kept working on improvements, the fans come in their multitudes.
Today, Zim dancehall is Zimbabwe’s biggest genre.
The same cannot be said for R&B, hip-hop, neo-soul and Afro-fusion. Their production rate is very low and it takes them time to saturate the market with content.
After the 75 percent local content policy began to be ignored most of these aforementioned genres crumbled.
According to Don Jazzy, DJs must deliberately play more local music.
Another interesting point he made was the difficulties in convincing DStv to showcase their content.
“For our content to be shown on DStv, be it films or anything, the local authorities had to fight with MultiChoice. It was really tough but we ended up getting content on the platform. As for music videos, we battled with DStv to get our material on platforms such as MTV Base, Trace TV and even Channel O. We then decided to just ignore them as they kept showing mainly South African content especially on Channel O. MultiChoice has since removed Channel O from our bouquet.”
As they say, the hustle is real.
The Sunday Mail Leisure spoke to the people that attended the workshop and got some interesting feedback.
Said Edith WeUtonga’s manager, Elton Mjanana: “I personally enjoyed listening to the story of someone who is actually successful. I also am thankful that he and his team were sharing their success and giving away tips on how others can make it.
That’s commendable. I guess l feel that way since locally we have a situation where the successful do not share their secrets to success and by no means work to uplift their peers.
“I was interested in the music video bit and I like the fact that he said they have been successful with theirs because they have gone out of their way to look larger than life so that the normal guy on the street aspires to be them. On the whole I would say some things were necessary and the local industry needed to hear them. I certainly think it is better hearing stuff from a practicing artiste who has made it rather than from each other in our aspirations to make it.
“Lastly, I must say I was really embarrassed by some of our local artistes for cheaply marketing themselves and losing focus of the subject of collaborations. A good number of them resorted to accosting Don Jazzy for not getting back to them, or not picking their calls, or not replying their emails. It was embarrassing – not to mention the self-praise.”
Don Jazzy also visited some studios in Harare, including Jah Prayzah’s.
Jah Prayzah said, “It was a really good initiative by BrandMe as it is a step in the positive direction to unite the whole continent through music. I am sure each one of the artistes who attended the workshop benefited a thing or two as we strive to get our local industry out there to the world. We can only grow if we help each other rather than strive for individual brilliance.”
Stunner’s manager Dzikamayi Chibaya had this to say: “I think Don Jazzy’s trip in itself to Zimbabwe was beneficial to this industry in a sense that we got to see first-hand how it is to be a success in the music industry. That alone inspires people and gives other younger, newer artistes the urge to want to be just as successful. That raw ambition is fuelled by such things.
“To the other more experienced artistes, the workshop was quite beneficial because the guys (him and his team) spoke on a number of issues that are relevant to our musicians. They spoke on strategies with which to attack piracy such as engaging the wholesale ‘pirate’ and giving him your music and hence making him your ‘distributor’ in essence, as one way. Another was to try and come up with unique ways of distributing our music outside of the formal distribution which, needless to say, is non-existent in Zimbabwe.
“We also learnt the importance of brand building and management through social media. The guy responsible for Don Jazzy’s brand was present and he said the key to success in developing the brand is visuals. Another key lesson was that if Zimbabwean artistes want to collaborate with foreign artistes especially Nigerian ones, the best route to take is to engage the formal channels of each of these artistes as their information is readily available.”
Gospel musician and former Black Spirits member, Charles Chipanga, also shared his views.
“From where I stand, it was a well thought idea just to bring someone who is making headlines and share their experiences with Zimbabweans and am sure many people in that line of genre picked a thing or two.
“However, I feel we should do more on the local scene. Stories of how Tuku had a breakthrough, how Mokoomba managed to play at the storied Apollo Theatre a few weeks back, how Hope Masike managed to collaborate with Salif Keita, have more relevance to us as Zimbabweans and would certainly give us a warm picture on how to go about things.
“When you make a hit like ‘Ebenezer’ by Rev TT Chivaviro, it might not change your life completely in Zimbabwe because of how small the market is but you would have used the right sound, right marketing tool and right message at that time. If a hit is done in Nigeria where the population is 150 million, that is a game changer in terms of response and even financial gains and your stories are obviously different.
“Coming from Victoria Falls, in the same economy, same number of ears and same radio stations, Mokoomba would inspire me more. So in a nutshell the workshop was beneficial indeed but we would want to have more of these engagements at a local level.”
