BY TENDAI SAUTA ELYSIUM Dance Magna was the toast of the day following a highly fluid act of its award-winning opera entitled Guardian of the Forest at the official opening of Nyamatsatse Festival held at the Little Jaison Theatre in Harare on Sunday.
The seven-day arts event, which started on August 14 and will end on August 20, is a cultural exhibition which showcases film, music, art and craft, theatre, literal reviews and workshops. The festival will wind up with an all-night traditional celebration or Bira on Saturday at Kufunda Village in Chitungwiza.
Nyamatsatse Festival founder Klara Ane Rosa, who also runs Mhondoro Dreams Production, told NewsDay Life & Style that Nyamatsatse is the name given by Zimbabwe’s Shona-speaking communities to the star that shines brighter than all other stars at the break of dawn. Cosmically, the star is otherwise called Sirius or Mercury.
“The festival revolves around understanding of Zimbabwe and the global phenomenon. The authentic Zimbabwean spirit was broken up into pieces and the pieces are all over the world. It is all up to us to put them together for the purposes of cultural restoration and repatriation,” said Rosa.
Rosa recently scripted and produced a film called Nzara which tells some of the most common experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic that need to be either cherished or corrected. Nzara will be screened on one of the days at the on-going festival.
Traditional healer, Jordaine “Ukhulu Victor” Zeff, said the best way to heal people was to connect them to their true origins.
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“Nyamatsatse is a morning star that represents a cycle of changes in life that is from morning to sunset and that embraces our true nature as people and unification through ubuntu,” said Zeff.
Founder of Amagugu International Heritage Centre in Bulawayo, Pathisa Nyathi delivered an enlightening speech focusing on how God blessed Africa with the special gift of spirit.
Nyathi, however, believes: “Africans got other teachings which tore apart the spirit of ubuntu and all religious and cultic practices were labelled witchcraft because of the white man’s misunderstanding that Africans fly in a crafted household utensil called winnowing basket as opposed to their Western allies who fly on a broom.
“It is through misunderstanding of usages of power and knowledge that people misunderstood the ingenious of the African mindset. Achievements like the power and energy to construct the Great Zimbabwe ruins and the pyramids of Egypt are still issues that the world does not understand.”
He further emphasised: “We know nothing about witchcraft and no lies should be peddled on this phenomenon. We need to liberate the African mindset. Africans concentrated more on celebrating the gains of their independence without making an effort to really develop a deep understanding of who they are.”
Getrude Vimbayi Munhamo-Pfumayaramba, who has been driving the revival of theatre performances following the sector’s liberation from the COVID-19 clutches, said events such as Nyamatsatse helped the youth to develop a deep understanding of who they are as Africans.
She believes that intelligence and effective usages of knowledge results in respect for family and cultural growth and dignity.
Reggae crooner Clive Jonga and several mbira playing artistes and poets provided entertainment in addition to the Elysium Dance Magna’s theatrical Guardian of the Forest presentation, which resonated well with the festival’s focus of exploring the stars.
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