SOUTH Africa’s award-winning pop music outfit Beatenberg makes a return at the ZOL Main Stage at this year’s edition of Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa), set to run between May 1 and 6 under the theme We Count at the Harare Gardens and surrounding venues.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The Cape Town-based band, comprising the trio Matthew Field on vocals and guitar, Ross Dorkin on bass guitarist and drummer Robin Brink, rekindles its romance with their Zimbabwean fans for a second bite of the cherry three years after their debut performance at the festival in 2015.
After putting up a scintillating act on their debut performance at the arts and culture jamboree, the trio will have to live up to their billing before expectant local fans.
Hifa founder and artistic director Manuel Bagorro confirmed to NewsDay Life & Style that Beatenberg would be among the artistes set to rock the ZOL Main stage.
“It has been an amazing journey for Beatenberg and it has been a pleasure for Hifa to have not only witnessed and been a part of the genesis of this band, but now also its continued entrenchment on the world stage,” he said.
“With a mainly youth appeal, the pop group still manages to cross age, race, gender and social divides to draw crowds into the trio’s own world with their foot-stomping, but intellectual melodies. That wide appeal is little surprise though as the band is undoubtedly street-cred personified.”
Beatenberg has become a household name in South Africa, as they build themselves into a force to be reckoned globally since 2008.
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They shot to fame in 2014 with their album The Hanging Gardens of Beatenberg.
Another Mzansi award-winning Afro-fusion group, Freshlyground, has also been confirmed to be among the stellar line-up of performers at the festival.
The group makes a return after they were deported at the 2014 edition of the festival, where they were billed to perform on the last day of the arts jamboree.
The group was immediately sent packing in 2014 soon after they touched down at then Harare International Airport.
Hifa’s six-day programme showcases arts and culture in the genres of music, spoken word, applied craft and design, theatre, fashion, dance and a wide-array of workshops.
Since its inception in 1999, Hifa has received recognition for its support of arts and culture in Zimbabwe and is seen as a major contributor to development in this area, unifying local and international artistes.
