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Winky D, Jah Prayzah choice curtain raisers

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DANCEHALL chanter, Winky D and Jah Prayzah have become favourite “poster boys” for music promoters bringing in international acts to stage shows in Zimbabwe.

DANCEHALL chanter, Winky D and Jah Prayzah have become favourite “poster boys” for music promoters bringing in international acts to stage shows in Zimbabwe.

BY WINSTONE ANTONIO

Jah Prayzah
Jah Prayzah

That promoters are dashing for their signatures as supporting acts for international shows has caused concerns among local music fans, who have used social media networks to call for diversity.

But promoters, who spoke to NewsDay Weekender, said they could not afford to use sentimentality when making business decisions.

“Bringing in foreign acts is a big gamble. On a good day, you can pocket something, but it is risky because it’s not guaranteed that the concert will yield the expected earnings,” a Harare promoter said.

He said, while fans could complain, they did not appreciate the finer details of everything involved.

“Music followers say a lot of things, especially on the gate charges and supporting acts, without taking into consideration that it is business.”

A Zimbabwean promoter based in South Africa is said to have made a huge loss after he lured American artistes Toni Braxton and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds to Zimbabwe.

The promoter is said to have used about $300 000 on the deal and only got $50 000 from ticket sales, where the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) is also said to have demanded $15 000 in royalties from the show organisers.

The promoter’s local dealer, BD Music director, Bernie Bismark, told NewsDay at the time it was costly to bring in foreign acts.

“It’s very expensive to bring these people and our tickets are pegged according to the budget,” she said.

As promoters, would be seeking to break even, they often settle for local supporting musicians that are guaranteed crowd pullers — like Jah Prayzah and Winky D.

Jah Prayzah’s manager, Keen Mushapaidze said promoters’ choice of the musician made business sense.

“Music is business, so when a promoter engages us for a show, he or she anticipates a return, which is only granted by the number of fans, so it means an assessment would have been done on the pull factor, which is a sign that our fans love our music,” he said.

Arts promoter, Plot Mhako said the engagement of supporting acts is determined by the push and pull factor of the artistes.

“It is to the promoter’s discretion to decide whom they want to perform as supporting acts. When engaging supporting acts, at most, the promoter is looking at value addition, that is, how much the specific artiste will bring to the show. Some would want those, who connect to the specific genre they will be supporting,” he said.

Mhako, however, believes some promoters must also try to bring in new talent as part of these high-profile gigs.

“The so-called monotony on supporting acts cannot be blamed on a promoter because it is the issue of quality and quantity that determines as the promoter had to deal with what is on offer on the market,” he said.

Mhako said the price tag for foreign artistes determines gate charges and the line-up of supporting acts.

“The dynamics are that, an expensive international artiste results in less spending on the locals because of his or her pull factor that sometimes local artistes would be keen to even pay the promoter or offer free service to have an opportunity to perform at such a high-value stage for the sake of elevating their profiles,” he said.

Dancehall singer, Sniper Storm had a spat with promoters, 2 Kings Entertainment, after he was offered a paltry $50 fee to be among Jamaican star Jah Cure’s curtain raisers.

While the pricing of the gig is said to be determined by the artiste’s price tag, most local promoters have reaped great rewards when these international artistes are on tour, as it is said to be cheaper to get a date on a touring week than engaging them from their traditional bases.

Promoters, 2 Kings Entertainment are said to have incurred a huge loss when they hosted Grammy award-winning Jamaican reggae outfit, Morgan Heritage, but they are said to have upgraded their profile on the continent.