Blessing’s HIFA Diary - Day 6, Easy like a Sunday

May 3, 2010 by Blessing Musariri ·
Filed under: Entertainment, Arts & Culture, Zimbabwean diaries

2 May, Sunday
AON Zimbabwe

“What we teach, we will reap, from men. What we deny, we will see, from men.” - Lebo Mashile, poet.

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A good day. Slow and easy-going just like Sunday should be. I’m sure none of us were expecting Salif Keita to attend the morning press conference, freshly arrived in Zimbabwe and experiencing luggage issues but he was there and it was wonderful to have him in our midst. He has a presence that is real and awe-inspiring. He appears to be one of those people who has no doubts about his reason for being on this good earth.

It was kind of bitter-sweet, being the last day. On one hand I am glad to be getting back to the slower pace of my everyday life and on the other I shall miss the bustle and activities and spending whole days wandering around discovering friends old and new. Back to the other hand though, I shall not miss the passive smoking I did all week. My room in the mornings always smelt as if I had been chain-smoking from sun-up to sun-down.

So, today I began with Lebo Mashile’s show, Threads. It was a beautiful and relevant performance of both dance and spoken word, dealing with the often talked about but still complex and unresolved issues of gender relations and in particular violence in the home. Men and women, mothers, fathers and men and women. There is a prevailing and profound background of violence in our lives and not to sum it up but to stress a point that we often overlook Lebo says, “What we teach, we will reap, from men. What we deny, we will see, from men.” It is how we raise our children that will make a difference in years to come so we must be mindful of what we bring to life because it affects the rest of the lives to come after you. What happens to love after broken bones?

As usual, Hivos Spoken Word Cafe followed – actually I do believe it was before Lebo’s show - I spent so much time there I can’t quite recall when I wasn’t there. Anyway, yes, this came before Lebo’s show. By the time Threads came and went and we returned to Harare Gardens, otherwise known as the HIFA Grounds for the week it was time to eat. With Phillippa and TJ we sat and had steak, fish and chips at Laiza’s restaurant on the Green and talked until it was time for Jose Gonzalez at 5.30. Jose Gonzalez’s rendition of the song Heartbeats features in the Sony Bravia commercial as well as in an episode of Scrubs. He sat and played his guitar on stage and sang some enthralling songs. I had never heard of him before but I am now a fan. I will be looking out for his CD.

Well, what can one say about Salif Keita. It was magic. Pure magic. I enjoyed myself thoroughly and having learnt from the night before when things got a bit rough and rowdy, today, there was excellent crowd control which made the whole experience of getting into the grounds pleasant and painless. Well done HIFA staff. Then there were fireworks and we all made noise and laughed and someone yelled, “Heppi Chris’mas” in my ear and we all laughed all over again.

On the Coca-Cola stage Winky D began his set as soon as Salif ended his and the crowd there was enraptured. It was packed but not hectic, others were in the tents having goodbye drinks with friends and fellow artists and it was one big party. Signing off HIFA, until next year.

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