AS the curtain comes down on 2014 a lot can be said in retrospect about Zimbabwe’s arts and entertainment industry.
This year’s local music industry had its ups and downs.
Sungura as one of the country’s favourite genres over the years suffered a blow as the rise of dancehall did not only entertain, but captured the imagination of many people.
Besides Soul Jah Love, it would be unfair to talk about dancehall without mentioning a young musician who rose to capture the hearts of both the young and old, Tocky Vibes.
Born Obey Makamure and professionally known as Tocky Vibes, he topped dancehall charts in a flash.
With songs such as ‘Mhai’, ‘Level Rakaipa’ and ‘Tocky Mushini’ among others, Tocky Vibes stole the thunder this year.
He even outclassed Jamaican Kalado when he visited Zimbabwe earlier this year.
Despite dancehall gaining ground, the violence associated with the genre is unfortunate.
For instance, the show dubbed STING last month turned out to be tragic when violence erupted leaving many fans injured.
The main culprits were Seh Calaz and Soul Jah Love.
Hopefully 2015 will be a year of peaceful dancehall shows.
For Sungura giant Alick Macheso, away from the music, 2014 was not the best of years.
His nasty divorce with his second wife, Fortunate ‘Tafadzwa’ Mapako went viral as they both washed their dirty linen in public.
Macheso’s daughter Sharon’s short-lived marriage to Kudakwashe Munetsi was another blow for the Macheso family.
No doubt 2014 is a year to forget for Baba Sharo as Macheso is known.
So besides the Macheso fiasco, various Sungura artistes released albums, but were largely overshadowed by dancehall artistes.
Turning to disappointments, the controversial Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) distressed revellers.
The festival’s main act Freshly Ground a South African music group, were duly turned away at the Harare International Airport.
The group once denounced President Robert Mugabe and why HIFA dared to invite the group still remains a mystery because the festival turned out to be a damp squib.
Acclaimed International artiste John Legend who was supposed to perform in the country last month never showed up.
He disappointed thousands of fans who had already bought tickets before they were reimbursed.
The Ebola virus in North West Africa also affected artistes.
The virus restricted some musicians from travelling and entertaining fans.
Local musicians Jah Prayzah, Sebastian Magacha and Cindy Munyavi who were nominated for the Africa Music Awards in Nigeria cancelled their travel arrangements because of Ebola.
The recently ended Big Brother Africa Hotshots although not so interesting was another highlight.
Zimbabwe was represented by Jerome Arab (JJ) and Tariro Mharapara (Butterphly).
They got in the finals, but both failed to pocket the US$300 000 prize money.
Turing to the ramp, the Miss Zimbabwe pageant made headlines in 2014.
After two years, the pageant returned with a new Chairperson Mary Chiwenga and had its fair share of controversies as three ‘Miss Zimbabwes’ were crowned in a year.
Thabiso Phiri stepped down barely a month after being crowned Miss Zimbabwe for undisclosed reasons.
A re-run of the pageant was held leading to Cathrine Makaya being crowned the new Miss Zimbabwe before she was forced to relinquish the crown to Tendai Hunda who was the first runner up.
Hunda ended up representing the country at Miss World in London, UK.
Another comeback in 2014 were the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA).
The awards came back after seven years in the doldrums.
As part of the awards, Dick Chingaira, better known as ‘Cde Chinx’ through the Chairman’s Award received a house for his invaluable contribution to the music industry from days of the liberation struggle.
On a sad note former Studio 263 actress, Pretty ‘Mai Muwengwa’ Xaba died in India after a long battle with cancer.
May her soul rest in peace!
Hopefully 2015 will bring new and exciting things in the arts industry.