IN a first of its kind in the history of local music promotions, Jive Zimbabwe has availed a unique opportunity for female artistes to prove their prowess at the all-female show themed ‘Only the Divas Concert’ set for Padziva along Kirkman Road, Harare this Saturday.
BY WINSTONE ANTONIO
The Only the Divas Concert comes against the backdrop of female artistes accusing music promoters of discriminating against them ahead of their male counterparts.
Most female musicians on several occasions have expressed displeasure against music promoters who they say either sidelined them completely when they organise shows, or gave them a raw deal compared to male artistes.
As they continued to call for recognition, Jive Zimbabwe has answered their call with the Only the Divas Concert, where they are taking all the responsibility involved in organising a live concert and have printed 2 000 tickets valued at $10 000 where an artiste takes all the amount she gets from selling her tickets at $5 each.
In an interview with NewsDay Life Style yesterday, Jive director Benjamin Nyandoro said the Divas concert that will feature 14 female artistes is a unique programme where everything has been put at their disposal so that they shine.
“The model that we have employed to organise the Only the Divas Concert is stirred by the need to prove a point and not to confirm a point against the backdrop of consumers, promoters and other relevant stakeholders in the arts sector who might be of the thinking that female artistes do not offer business value in showbiz,” he said. “With this concert, Jive (Zimbabwe) is participating in building confidence in promoters and the public towards female artistes such that we have provided the platform, which is the venue and that state-of-the-art stage used by international artistes and state-of-the-art public address system, and they have to prove that they are a stakeholder market.”
Nyandoro said they have made the 14 artistes participate by making them sell their own tickets to prove their worth than waiting for promoters to offer them something for a performance.
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“The prove-a-point model started by giving the female artistes the tickets to sell and take all the money from the sales, if one sells $10 000 or $7 000, she takes all the money. With this, we are challenging the female artistes that in their own individual capacity, can they fill up the venue and prove the point that they can even do the same or even better on those big stages just like their male counterparts, otherwise they confirm a point.”
“As Jive, we have put in the sufficient ingredients for the good show and on top of that I have printed all the 2 000 tickets valued at $10 000 as they are selling at $5. September 29 is a launch pad of a new wave of female artistes and beyond this show, we want to see a shift as many artistes perform successfully on big stages.”
Among the artistes that will take turns to entertain patrons at the concert are Diana “MaNgwenya” Samkange, Tete Pipilo, Ammi Jamanda, Kadijah, Tendai Chimombe, Sasha, Edith WeUtonga, Pauline and Tendai Chimombe.
