Music Crossroads Zimbabwe national finals explode to life today with 10 groups set to lock horns in the competition slated for the First Street Mall in Harare.
In an interview with NewsDay, director of Music Crossroads Zimbabwe Mathias Bangure said all the logistics for the event were in place with all the groups set to compete.
Necessary arrangements to ensure that the event proceeds as planned are already in place and all the groups are in town for the finals. We are expecting a huge attendance because of the outreach programme we have conducted this year in order to take the music to the people, said Bangure.
Before the event kicks off in the afternoon, we are going to proceed with our workshops that we have been conducting for the past week.
Participants at these national finals have for a week been taking part in workshops to enlighten them on various aspects of the music industry.
We had a couple of workshops for the past week and these dealt on issues concerning HIV and Aids, gender relationships, musical instruments, stage performance, voice training, band management, copyright law, marketing and promotion.
The workshops were really supported thanks to some of Zimbabwes accomplished musicians and lecturers from the Zimbabwe College of Music who facilitated the programme.
Todays finals are being made possible by the Culture Fund Trust of Zimbabwe and Africalia, a Belgium-based organisation responsible for developing raw talent and supporting artists.
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The groups have been drawn from provincial competitors who took part in the national final competitions last year.
Bangure said because of financial constraints they had eventually reached a decision to pick out groups from the set of participants that took part in the competition in 2010.
From Midlands and Masvingo come Steel Throbe and Afro Vision while Savannah Afros and John Pfumojena and Munandi represent Harare.
African Tribe and Destiny will represent Bulawayo and Matabeleland North respectively with Mookomba set to be the guest band.
Mashonaland Central will be represented by The Way band as African Voices stand for Mashonaland West while from Mashonaland East and Manicaland come Hungwe Stars with the 2010 regional winners, Club Shanga, featuring as the guest band.
The winner and first runner-up at tomorrows national competition will stand a chance to represent the country at the Music Crossroads Inter-regional Finals set for Maputo on February 8 to February 13.
The winning group at the inter-regional competition will be awarded a slot to go on a European tour.
