Blessing’s HIFA Diary - Day 6, Easy like a Sunday
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. Read more
Blessing’s HIFA Diary - Day 5, Messing with my mojo
1 May, Saturday
Coca-Cola day
“Open happiness.”
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I left HIFA early today because being a Saturday, it was so crowded that it had become stressful to be there, the vibe had changed completely and the bouncers at the main stage gates had messed with my mojo.
The day started off great: press conference was colourful, with a wide range of guests and we were treated to a lovely serenade by The Magnets (an a cappella group from the UK). From there I rushed to my first show of the day, which was Musicolour, featuring Outspoken (spoken word artist) and his band The Essence, in collaboration with Trio Broz (string trio courtesy of the Embassy of Italy and the European Union), and Upmost – My Brother’s Keeper (spoken word artist). Out of the featured repertoire, my absolute favourite was one I’d never heard before; a satirical number about two domestic servants fighting over who was the best servant to baas and medem. The gardener ( Outspoken) and the cook (Upmost) do not like each other, but each one of them loves his medem and loves his baas. I laughed uproariously. These two guys have mad skills and Trio Broz were superb.
Now, Outspoken tackles issues of global politics and personal freedom. What was ironic is that at the end of a particular track, a member of the audience walked up to the stage and made a comment about the song. First of all, should audience members even be allowed to approach performers during a set? I wondered why this was allowed because none of the many festival staff at hand made a move to ask the lady to return to her seat. Read more
