A CONSORTIUM of local music promoters has formed an association aimed at growing the dancehall genre through career management and talent identification.
The association called Artistes Management Centre (AMC) will bring together established and new artistes in the dancehall genre.
Dancehall music has become the leading genre among Zimbabwean youths overtaking other beats such as urban groves and hip hop that has gained prominence over the years.
In an interview with The Patriot AMC marketing director Charles Guvamatanga who is popularly known by music lovers as ‘Torro’ said the main agenda of the association was to give exposure to ‘hidden’ talented dancehall artistes who are in marginalised areas.
He said due to lack of exposure most exceptional dancehall artistes in the rural areas remained unrecognised.
“We have conducted a research and discovered that there are a lot of talented dancehall artistes in remote areas who are not realising their full potential due to lack of exposure,” Guvamatanga said.
“Though we are targeting all the dancehall artistes in the country our main thrust is to make sure that marginalised artistes get the same exposure with counterparts in urban areas.
“We want to explore hidden talent in the country and give it prominence.”
Guvamatanga said the exposure will improve the remunerations of the artistes and enable them to make a living out of their talents.
“As the association we want to open doors for marginalised artistes to better markets for them to realise more money through their skills,” he said.
“We will be organising shows throughout the country for the artistes to perform on different platforms.”
Most dancehall artistes were criticised by social commentators for their morally bankrupt lyrics that do not promote the African cultural values.
Toro said the association will also focus on nurturing both established and emerging artistes and helping them to come up with content that will be accepted by all music lovers.
“AMC will be hosting workshops that will feature prominent and respected music artistes so that they can assist dancehall musicians produce content that is not offensive,” he said.
“We want our artistes to sing lyrics that have a positive impact and promote the country’s cultural values.”
“Dancehall artistes should be ambassadors of goodwill on matters that have affected our society such as HIV.”
Most artistes in the country end their carriers as destitute due to mis-management of their funds with some of them being duped by promoters who benefit more than the artistes.
Guvamatanga said the association will train dancehall musicians on entrepreneurship projects so that they can invest their money.
“We want the artistes to be equipped with other surviving skills that could assist them to earn a living separately from their music business,” he said.
“The association will help the artistes to have access to other important services in life such as medical aid and funeral policies.”
The association has so far registered more than 100 artistes from different parts of the country.
Zim-dancehall music is at its peak and the wave at which the genre is gliding is challenging the popularity of genres such as sungura and the almost forgotten urban grooves.
In Jamaica the genre originated in the early eighties, with dancehall chanters such as Yellow Man, Ninja Man, Burro Banton and the late Tenor Saw among the “foundation artistes”.
This paved way for popular artistes that included the likes of Bounty Killer, Buju Banton and the versatile Moses “Beenie Man” Davis” in the 1990s.
Such breed of artistes popularised dancehall with harsh social and political lyrics that spoke of the economic hardships that bedevilled the Jamaican society.
Jamaica is now a tourist destination with thousands of people visiting the Island to attend popular dancehall festivals such as the annual Boxing Day show “Sting”.
Such shows have benefited the economy with music being a significant contributor to Jamaica’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Zim dancehall genre can actually emulate the Jamaican success story and positively shift towards promoting positivity.
Currently artistes that include Dhadza D, Seh Calaz of the ‘mabhanditi’ fame, Terminator are ruling the roost.
But Tocky Vibes is man-of-the-moment.
The young man has so enchanted fans that a dancehall show without him is deemed not to be the best of shows.