ZIMDANCEHALL icon Winky D has disclosed that the country's
music industry was in a serious crisis due to the impact of COVID-19, whose
lockdown measures have included the prohibition of public gatherings.
For the majority of musicians in Zimbabwe, public live
shows have traditionally been their major income stream.
Winky D's manager Jonathan Banda said to a greater extent,
Zimbabwe was lagging behind in terms of the requisite technology for ideal
online shows.
"The development model we all try to follow is what
they call modernisation. If you are looking at Zimbabwe, we are trying to catch
up, we are trying to replace whatever it is which is in place, the
infrastructure technology, and we are still growing in terms of such things
that's the honest truth," Banda said.
He said the brutal truth revealed by COVID-19 was that
artistes were vulnerable.
"This situation has shown us that anything can happen
life and there is need to balance a whole lot of things and it has shown us
that artistes have no safety as it where be it institutionally or
organisationally," he said.
"Besides the fact that there are a lot of initiatives,
let's face it, yes, it's not normal for everyone and as artistes it has shown
that we are vulnerable, it's like
we are saying right now I have strategy because now I am
eating bread yet it's the only thing I can afford."
Banda expressed fears that music would be one of the last
industries to open up given that it thrived on crowds and public gatherings.
"Most of what
we are doing now is administrative and the way things are I think it could be
the last industry to be considered in terms of operations because it gathers a
lot of people so let's just be sober and sincere with ourselves," he said.
Online performances, which several musicians have taken up,
could not be classified as an alternative as it was the only option at the
moment.
"We have this misconception that we should be growing
better even when things are wrong. Personally, I want to dismiss the issue of
using online platform as a strategy, but as the only available option that's
there for us right now, we never anticipated this, things are really not well
for us, but we continue working," he said.
Banda said since the lockdown, their work was more
administrative although some musicians say they are using the lockdown to pen
new tracks. He said Winky D had always been writing songs even before the
lockdown.
"We can't even say nowadays he is writing songs
because he always writing and it's not a new thing and it's a process. For an
artiste, if you establish yourself, it's not about releasing something, but the
impact of the output," he said.
Banda underscored the need for the sector to invest in
local resource utilisation, adding that going online would leave some of their
fans out in the cold in view of high data charges and poor internet
connectivity.
"So really, we are trying and we are saying to
ourselves I think there are certain areas that we really feel we should invest
in. First and foremost, we should look at local resource utilisation whenever
possible, but however, as for us when we do partnerships with others outside,
it's merely because we would not have seen those things around and it's just
one of those very difficult scenarios," he said.
"If we decide to go online, it means we have neglected
some of the most organic fans that we have had, those who don't have access to
this like the ghetto youths and others in rural areas. We are humans and we
don't have answers to everything."
Banda indicated that currently, they were not able to do
their visuals because traditionally they use several locations and work with a
huge cast, something not possible under the lockdown in which social distancing
was critical. Newsday
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