Zimbabwe: MACfest comes out of shell
By Kenneth Matimaire – MUTARE – The sixth edition of the Midlands Arts and Culture Festival (MACfest) marks the evolution of the promising event into an inclusive event characterised by various artistic trends apart from music – its major trump card.
Bob Nyabinde is part of the list of musicians who are expected to perform at MACfest
MACfest is geared up to match the standards of two of the country’s top arts festivals – Harare Festival of the Arts (HIFA) and Intwasa after securing a $6000 boost from Culture Fund – one of its sponsors.
The arts festival, which usually centred on live music performances, will this year court other arts discipline such as poetry slam, theatre, and traditional dances to suit various tastes of arts fanatics.
As the organisers move in to make the festival “bigger and better,” the forthcoming edition runs for six days from September 16 to 21, unlike previous editions, which were held within three days.
The highly anticipated arts ceremony will also feature a mixed bag of music genres from jazz, sungura, urban grooves to reggae.
Jazz croon Bob Nyabinde, Jays Marabini; sungura ace Peter “Young Igwee” Moyo, Ronnie Mudhindo; reggae artistes Tawanda “Bantuman I” Jumo, Man Soul Jah; urban groovers Roki, Nasty Trix and Madiz of the “Kazevezeve” fame will be performing.
MACfest media and community liaison officer Brenna Matendere told Shout-Africa that they have already signed binding contracts with key musicians.
“We have already signed binding contracts with top musicians on our line-up so revellers are guaranteed of performances from their favourite stars. There is variety of music, which shows that we have succeeded to blend music for all revellers.
“As you can see, we have prolonged this edition from three days to six, included more arts disciplines such as theatre, poetry and traditional dance after securing a boost of $6000 from Culture Fund.
“With all these developments, we are expecting to make this edition the benchmark towards our goal of matching the standards set by two of the country’s top arts festivals HIFA and Intwasa. At the moment we are third after HIFA and Intwasa,” said Matendere.
He added that the event will be officiated by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe director Elvas Mari.
MACfest thrives to become the country’s leading organization that promotes the participation in artistic activities of individuals and social groups to create, produce, disseminate, distribute and have access to their own cultural expressions.
Over the years, it has played a vital role in the society, through the utilization of artistic expression in innovative ways to present new ideas, deliver important messages, and educate society about different topics, activities and cultures.
