DECORATED local Afro-fusion band Mokoomba’s manager Marcus Gora yesterday said the global outbreak of the virulent coronavirus (COVID-19) is a litmus test for musicians as it has shown the importance of having savings and investments to hedge them on a rainy day.
BY FREEMAN MAKOPA
Gora told NewsDay Life & Style that the outbreak was such a huge blow and they were hoping by the time they resume their international tours, it would have passed away.
COVID-19, he said, has forced them to shelve their local engagements.
“Currently we are in a wait and see mode and a lot of things are on hold now and we are not doing tours or shows because of this virus. We haven’t had any cancellations as yet because our tours start in summer and we hope that at that time the situation would have returned to normalcy and if it doesn’t, then we will postpone,” he said.
“We stopped doing shows in Harare in February and we were only doing house concerts which had a few people and we have also stopped doing them as we are also assessing the situation and we are fully aware of COVID-19.
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I think right now what we will be doing is raising awareness and educating people about the virus. We were engaging fans through social media platforms.”
Gora said there have not been active on their social media pages because they were trying not to cause distraction on the flow of verified information on COVID-19.
“We want to join in, to give information on coronavirus and we are urging our fans to stay at home and follow all rules stipulated by the government. There are many jokes on the internet concerning coronavirus and I feel it’s high time we take it seriously,” he said.
He said the fact that the country’s health system was ailing compounded the problem and it was important for artiste to have some form of back up for trying times such as these.
“As you can see now, we have no vaccine and our health system is not that good, so we should take necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the virus and we are also urging artistes that it’s good to have savings and investments that help them in times of outbreaks such as this. Also having streaming revenue is good, but its really small, it kind of helps, but it’s not that big,” Gora said.