“MEMORABLE” is a fitting description of the ambiance and energy that characterised Shoko Festival’s main event at Chitungwiza’s Unit L grounds on Sunday night.
BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA
Themed “Peace in the Hood”, the diverse programming that saw genres including hip-hop, gqom and Zimdancehall grace the same stage was like a scene plucked right from a utopian movie.
For the organisers, the decision to take the main event, which was headlined by South African gqom diva Moonchild Sanelly, to the ghetto appears to have paid off.
A madding youthful crowd largely dressed in trendy and colourful regalia thronged the dusty space at twilight at a time red-hot rapper Asaph had early birds shaking to his spirited showcase.
Emerging songstress Tammy Moyo, also staged a solid show juxtaposed with the genius of Oslo’s Awesomnia band.
When headline act Moonchild took to the stage with her song F-Boyz most could not relate to the lyrics but her contagious energy lured many to the dancefloor.
Dressed in a racy pink top and matching pants, which she latter stripped for a skimpier swimsuit, she belted hit after hit including Makhe, Midnight Starring and Weh Mameh much to the adulation of the frenzied congregation.
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But the climax of her 40-minute slot was when she climbed the side of the stage and twerked, leaving a significant part of the crowd in awe.
Meanwhile, the three-day festival’s re-imagined programming in response to a slump in attendance at most of last year’s scheduled events at the Zimbabwe Museum of Human Sciences grounds presented a positive shift in terms of numbers.
On Friday the Shoko Comedy Night turned into a resounding success which attracted a virtually full house at Reps Theatre in the capital as lovers of jest were treated to a massive rib cracking show for two hours while the audience at the Mash Up night on day two was noble as well.
Shoko Festival — among the country’s longest-running urban culture festivals — is a product of Magamba Network.
