Zimbabwe: Nguva Yedu - Post Festival report

NGUVA YEDU - OUR TIME - THUBA LETHU
THE BOOK CAFÉ YOUTH FESTIVAL
HARARE, 24-28 March 2009
Riot Zungu of Gang of Instrumentals (SA) + Zimbabwe´s ‘Mic-Inity´

A spectacular concert in an atmosphere of joy and freedom marked the end of the inaugural Nguva Yedu ~ Thuba Letu ~ Our Time youth arts festival in Harare. 600 people packed the Book Café car park for the final concert on Saturday 28 March, which presented 10 hours of outstanding poetry and some of the southern African region´s top music acts.

South Africa´s Gang of Instrumentals inspired the occasion with their tight arrangements and rock-funk inspired hip hop. The Harare audience erupted as the group - first time visitors but already well known to Zimbabweans - delivered one hot song after another.

An electrifying performance by Ugandan star Jose Chameleon had the audience on its feet, waving, dancing, laughing and singing along, and fittingly, on the back of his glitzy stage costume the words “Freedom ... is not Free”.

When young Zimbabwean reggae star MicInity appeared as the last act, waving a massive rasta flag, the crowd was in pungwe (all night) mood. The concert closed with visitors Riot Zungu (GI) and Jose Chameleone joining MicInity on stage, where they delivered a free-style rendition of a Bob Marley classic to a euphoric audience. It had been an unforgettable happening for everyone, passionate and happy. It marked a moment of renewal, the time of youth - our time!

It had all started at 2pm on the afternoon of Saturday 28 March. Wave after wave of youth acts took the stage, featuring young artists from Pamberi Trust´s youth and gender projects; it seemed never ending. The exuberance of each act added to the sense that something wondrous was unfolding, this was a ‘happening´; everywhere in the audience people were amazed at the depth and diversity of young Zimbabwean artists - professionalism, stage craft, musical and poetic skill marked the entire event. Dudu Manhenga performed a lovely set in her own inimitable afrojazz style, backed by the group Color Blu, with massive stage presence, extremely comfortable on the big stage. 19-Year-old John Pfumojena amazed the crowd with his extraordinary vocal control and range. Zimbabwe´s immensely popular afro artist Victor Kunonga was joined on stage by Ghanaian percussionist Yao, and amidst guitar interplay reminiscent of the great guitar bands of the 1980s, the Ghanaian artist from the group Nomad-yi performed one of the finest percussion and drum solos seen on a Harare stage for some time. A poet to watch out for - Outspoken has it all, timing, verve, voice, movement, attitude - a star in the making, while Cde Fatso, toyi-toyi peoples´ poet, has grown in stature - his sound reaching towards chimurenga and 1980s Afro-rock - his laughter infectious and his jokes really very funny.

Over 3 days, the festival had featured powerful performances. The young voice of Sam Mtukudzi is beginning to develop texture and personality, and the audience danced until the end. Nomad-yi literally shook the house with their hard-edged Joburg hip-hop, sung uniquely in Wolof, French, English and siNdebele. Tomas Brickhill´s gentle, personal touch had the audience singing along ‘sokwanele baba´. Antonio Lyons, dressed in white, managed a remarkable feat - he drew the crowd into his poetry - and a boisterous, dancing Book Café quietly listened and applauded in delight at each poetic moment of reckoning.
There were dozens of other performances through the 3 days of festivities, most memorably Bongo Love, Alexio Kawara, Edene Timbe & Fire, Pachena Kids, Initiative Arts from Bulawayo, Afrodiziak with Q Montana and Filbert Marova and The Other Four with Clare Nyakujara.

‘Mindblast: Young Zimbabweans Talk - an exploration into the spirit of Zimbabwe´ had been an intense experience earlier in the festival. An outpouring of expression the debates were chaotic, diverse, questioning and interspersed with moments of brilliant insight. Through it all, patterns of thought began to take shape. Young Zimbabwean creative minds abhorred the repression of ‘freedom of expression´, embraced cultural diversity, and above all, craved renewal - they want their voices to be heard.

Arts writers from Ethiopia, Cameroun, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa under Marimba Media joined the discussions, sharing their perspectives with Zimbabwean artists and writers. From this came a sense that in some ways Zimbabwe´s difficult political journey has not in fact been that unique - all over the continent Africans have had to find the path towards free expression which has not been easy.

In a ground-breaking Zimbabwean ‘first ever´ the discussions and events were beamed by live webcast and watched by groups of Zimbabwean Diaspora and other interested people in Zimbabwe, South Africa, USA, UK and as far away as Saudi Arabia, Czech Republic and Malaysia. 238 people around the world were logged into the webcast in ‘real time´, responding directly to the webcast team via live chat - applauding the festival and wishing they were there.

The event was organised by Pamberi Trust - Book Café in collaboration with African Synergy, a pan-African network of African arts and festivals with support from the Danish Centre for Cultural Development (DCCD), the National Arts Council, as well as its many friends and partners.

Pamberi Trust says the Nguva Yedu - Thuba Letu - Our Time festival (which had almost everyone singing and saying its name - in songs and poetry and humour, it makes a great rap line!) is the first of an annual youth arts festival - and what a debut it has been!

All across Africa the youth are saying “Nguva Yedu - Thuba Lethu - Our Time!” And now it is time for us to listen to what they have to say. The youth are our tomorrow.