Bruce Ndlovu
DURING last Saturday’s Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (RoilBAAs), one of the dignitaries that went on stage to present an award remarked that the city’s premier award ceremony and Skyz Metro FM had joined the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) and Highlanders Football Club as events and institutions that defined Bulawayo.
This, by all accounts, was a lofty comparison. With the awards only in their second year and Skyz Metro also a toddler yet to even reach two, being placed alongside two institutions that have dominated city life for decades seemed far-fetched.
Bosso, for one, is so emphatically woven into the fabric of Bulawayo life that it is hard to imagine what the city would be like without it. What would Bulawayo be without the wild hooting of cars and the blaring vuvuzelas on Sunday afternoons? If Bulawayo is a cultural melting pot then Bosso is the added flavour that makes the City of Kings a dish that sizzles.
The ZITF, on the other hand, is such a monumental event that sometimes it feels like the city spends 359 days waiting and preparing for those six days in April. Over the years, many have feigned fatigue, claiming that it does not bring anything new to the table anymore. However, there’s no doubt that there would be a collective wail of despair if it was removed from the city’s calendar of events.
In the leanest of years, these two things, a football club and a trade fair, have given Bulawayo reason to smile. So have these two newcomers done enough to merit mention alongside these two bulwarks of Bulawayo life and culture?
If one was to use last Saturday’s RoilBAAs as a response to that question, then the answer would be a loud and emphatic YES. For those few hours last Saturday, it felt like the city had been airlifted and placed on the streets of California itself, with the pizzazz and style usually associated with Hollywood in full display.
The organisation of the event was near faultless, with the only blemishes perhaps being a ceremony that seemed to run a couple of hours too long and a crowded VVIP section. The clarion call before last week’s ceremony was that those attending should dress for the red carpet and guests did not disappoint, showcasing the best that their wardrobes could offer. Needless to say, a few designers found themselves unusually busy a few days before the awards.
It was, for the second year running, a near perfect event that seemed to again make a mockery of some shabbily organised national award ceremonies. The cheers and roars of those in the audience would have seen those that have heard Bulawayo artistes claim that they are not supported by their own looking around the auditorium with puzzled expressions. Was this the Bulawayo which they had repeatedly heard does not support its artistes?
The question that should be asked instead however, is whether the euphoria of that night and the excitement that continues to surround Skyz Metro FM, enough to see Bulawayo arts lovers putting their hard earned dollars and cents into the hands of artistes that they clearly love.
“Personally, I think a lot of things are changing, particularly here in Bulawayo. Like you saw for yourself, the City Hall was fully packed. People dressed up to support Bulawayo arts.
“They didn’t go there to support anything else. They knew it was the Bulawayo Arts Awards. I think people’s mindsets are changing,” said Sandra Ndebele after Saturday’s ceremony during which she was crowned the city’s best female artiste.
Ndebele’s optimism will no doubt be put to test in the next few months as the artistes try to capitalise on the supposedly changing landscape in the city music industry. Will the award ceremony be a false dawn or the change that Bulawayo artistes have been crying for?
The entrance of Skyz Metro FM and its success has meant that perhaps for the first time in its long storied history, Bulawayo is listening to itself on radio. The voices coming from Pioneer House clearly have a Bulawayo bias, and this has certainly gone a long way in winning Bulawayo artistes the ears and hearts of people who are notoriously hard to please. The station’s stated intention was always to uplift the city’s musicians and almost two years since it made its debut on the airwaves, it is hard to argue that it is not carrying out its task with aplomb.
It may be years before the city’s musicians get the credit that they believe they deserve, but the tide, it seems for now, is turning.
On the other hand, those that believe that they can gain the same success as the RoilBAAs without putting in the work those behind the awards invested may be misguided. Winning over Bulawayo requires both brain and brawn, two qualities that those that put together last Saturday’s extravaganza seem to have in abundance.
The RoilBAAs were quite literally everywhere and one could not tweet or throw away waste without coming across mention of the awards. It is the same effort that the makers of the movie Qiniso put into marketing their movie a few years back. The makers of Qiniso blundered by delivering a shabby product at the end but they had shown what was possible with forceful marketing.
The message was clear: the people of Bulawayo are starving for home cooked products, but will only entertain suitors who care enough to seduce them with forceful marketing. Flirting with them will not work.
It is a message that the organisers of the RoilBAAs seem to have seen and taken to heart. Those that want to woo the City of Kings might also need to do the same. Anything less might not be enough.