THE third edition of the Special Schools Arts Festival held on June 14 at the Bandshell Stage in Harare Gardens has recorded remarkable progress from the previous editions.
Tinashe Sibanda Entertainment Reporter
Sixty mbira units were given to six of the special schools with pupils who can fruitfully benefit from working with the iconic instrument courtesy of the festival synergies with Hatiite Project – an organisation with initiatives championed by Victor Kunonga for the benefit of children with disabilities.
Meanwhile, Ticha Muzavazi – coordinator of the festival, mbira teacher and special educator in the area of visual impairment, yesterday started on a journey around the country to seed vibrant mbira clubs in the schools to complement this development.
“I will be visiting five centres outside Harare from today [Monday] to Wednesday [tomorrow] to set the ball rolling,” he said.
The festival stands a chance to be a big interactive event for all children artistes in the region.
The event which ran with the theme; Breaking Barriers Towards Inclusive Practices engaged participants in 22 groups and individuals with disabilities and mbira and dance groups from the other communities like a Chipawo dance group that performed a Muchongowoyo Dance, Chembira Primary School Traditional Dance Troupe who had a mesmerising Jerusarema performance and a mbira ensemble from Glen Norah High 1.
“While the organisers compliment the efforts made by media and other stakeholders to raise awareness on child disability issues, there are still some gaps presented by lack of interest and participation by partners from the corporate sector,” Muzavazi said.
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He said the involvement of the community in such development issues as child disability tends to set the entire society on a positive drive towards civilisation and success.
Muzavazi said there was also an international flair to the festival with the involvement of a group from a Japanese voluntary community and the artistes set a colourful scene with activities that blended well with the rest of the set up on the sunny side of the park.
Three of the Japanese who had spent weeks of practice with the mbira veterans of St. Giles Special School had a collaboration that churned out heartrending compositions in local and Japanese languages with songs like Mawere Kongonya and Sukiyaki to send the crowds to their feet.
“On the other wing of the arena were two ladies – Naome Chaota – former student of St Giles Special School and Nompilo Nkomo who had travelled all the way from Bulawayo to display and exhibit drawing and painting skills with feet,” he said.
Muzavazi added that all the way from Copota was a girl who was both deaf and blind displaying knitting skills – occasionally responding to instructions to demonstrate countless avenues to achievement despite any challenges.
Another score for the fast-growing inclusive arts festival was incorporation of unique Marimba bands and a Brass Band from Mutendi Resource Unit for the Blind. There was also participation of established artists with disabilities like Soul Bone and Munyaradzi Munodawafa whose key-board wizardry never cease to amaze.
