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HIFA: The good and bad

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THE Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) is a very interesting festival.
It is an arts fiesta that has been with us for more than a decade and that period has been eventful.
Without doubt the arts fiesta that kicks off as the tentacles of winter begin to creep out, blasts the gloom of wintry days and nights.
The capital city is alive and for a good six days the country is in the spotlight.
Heartwarming is how the street kids are taken off the streets and are dressed in trendy outfits, are given jobs as ushers and marshals and get to earn some money.
The situation might be temporary and not long lasting but for more than a week these less fortunate children have something to smile about.
They are happy.
Arguably HIFA is one of the best platforms for the country to market itself, though some of us worry and question the morals of some of the visitors that bring the worst in some of our people, but the arts bonanza literally brings the world to Zimbabwe.
And many have good time and become ambassadors, who hopefully when they return home dispute the news on BBC and CNN, media which is bent on painting the country with the most awful colour they can conceive.
While HIFA is a ‘beautiful’ programme, it is the ‘little’ things almost invisible to the eye that take away from the glitter of the event
For instance, why would organisers promote plays that we as a people, as Zimbabweans find offensive?
Freedom of expression has its limits.
The BBC or arts festival in London would never promote acts that demean and ridicule the Queen and similarly no play in the United States will be found entertaining if it is poke fun of the founding fathers.
No amount of democracy will enable Americans to take lightly the misrepresentation and belittling of George Washington for instance.
Yet HIFA will be promoting and showing a play ‘Lovers in Time’, a play that caricatures Mbuya Nehanda and Sekuru Kaguvi.
The play co-produced by one Dr Agnieszka Petrowska of the United Kingdom is plain offensive.
It is such lack or is it, of judgment that brings into question the motives of HIFA and its intentions.
Bagorro cannot profess ignorance, he has stayed in Zimbabwe and knows exactly who Nehanda and Kaguvi are and their significance and importance to us.
The doctor from the University of Bedfordshire knows exactly who Nehanda and Kaguvi are, when the mediums were captured during the First Chimurenga telegrams were sent to Britain that the war had been won, the indigenes had been defeated.
That is why Mr Bagorro we are very unhappy, you know who Nehanda is, Dr Petrowskas knows who Nehanda is thus the inclusion of this offensive play on your programme is very deliberate and we ask to what end?
While we are happy about the exchange of cultures that takes place in the 144 hours of HIFA, it is the distortion of our culture that makes us very unhappy.
We have gone to lands, to festivals elsewhere where we have told the story of Kaguvi and Nehanda, the promises that they made and that were realised when the country attained independence.
So there is no way, even in the name of freedom of expression and artistic right, will some of us accept a depiction of Nehanda unhappy with a free Zimbabwe pining for the 1890s which were years of brutality.
Failure to sing the national anthem on the opening night, well we might treat it is an oversight but unfortunately some of us take it as a slight.
We cannot help feel that the arts fiesta is meant to enrich foreigners more than locals.
We love our artistes so much and hold them in high esteem that we fail to understand why multiple award winner Jah Prayzah fails to earn the same with Freshly Ground, a group whose song last year caricature President Mugabe as a dictator.
At least shows must attract the same entrance fees, if we are genuine about cultural exchange the white part in our community will not mind parting with US$25 required to witness Freshly Ground perform.
They will pay US$8 to see our local superstar perform, why?
The logical conclusion would be that he is viewed as inferior, well he is not.
There will be loads of fun at HIFA but let it not be at the expense of our culture, the programme must not cheapen who we are or is that it’s new thrust?
We are a proud people.

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