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PoZee

Bruce Ndlovu Showbiz Correspondent
Harare and Bulawayo have always enjoyed a healthy rivalry.
It is rivalry that has transcended generations, marked by the latter’s eagerness to upstage the former and its perceived big brother attitude towards its smaller counterparts around the country.
The rivalry also transcends various disciplines, but it is perhaps most vivid in sports, where, year after year, the country’s most popular and successful sides, Highlanders and Dynamos are at each other’s throats, as they try to establish themselves as the alpha male of the country’s footballing jungle.

Testament to the close competition between the two is how the last two league championships have been won on goal difference. Clearly, when rivalries are this fierce, the line separating a win from a loss is very thin.

However, one aspect where the capital has clearly gained a clear ascendancy over Bulawayo is in the field of music. While the popularity of sungura, most of whose protagonists hail from the capital, is undeniable and has been so for a long while, Bulawayo always had its own sprinklings of excellent artistes ready to challenge those from the capital.

In the past Bulawayo music fans could argue that the likes of Lovemore Majaivana and Busi Ncube were a loud and resounding answer to the music of the likes of the late Leonard Tembo and Oliver Mtukudzi, who practised their music largely from the capital.

However, in the past decade, the country’s second largest city has found itself lagging behind the massive strides made by the capital’s musicians, especially in the area of youth music. The beginning of the new millennium found the country’s youth artistes searching feverishly for a genre that would define who they were in a world which, due to technology, was getting smaller and smaller. The days of Tuku or Majaivana as beacons to which all youths gravitate towards for musical inspiration were long gone. The “born frees” were searching for a new voice and they seemed to have found it in the birth of urban grooves.

The genre was embraced around the country, and under its wide and sweeping umbrella it housed a diverse crowd of artistes. Although artistes such as Pozee and Roki were vastly different musically, they all embraced the banner of urban grooves as it seemed to represent the aspirations of young musicians than a particular sound.

However, over the past few years, the urban grooves genre seems to be losing its shine, with the spotlight seeming to be shining particularly brightly for the dancehall sub-genre. Dancehall chanters have taken the country by storm, feeding hit after hit to the country’s youths who have been only too eager to devour whatever catchy tune is tossed towards their direction by the genre’s protagonists.

The popularity of the genre has seen even its DJs like Judgment Yard pack dance floors across the country as they gain the hard earned adulation of youths across the country who usually reserve their praise for foreign artistes.

Amidst this triumph of dancehall, conspicuous by their absence has been young Bulawayo artistes. While veterans like Jeys Marabini continue to shine and expand their fan bases worldwide, the city’s young artistes are playing second fiddle to their counterparts from the capital. The most saddening part is how the city’s contingent of artistes, who seem to have largely resigned themselves to the role of bridesmaids as they regularly curtain-raise for local and international visiting acts, has failed to strike a reasonable following amongst city youths.

While dancehall has risen off the strength of the support of young people from the capital, Bulawayo artistes simply do not have the grassroots support to start a similar following in the city as their music seems to be out of tune with the tastes of young local music consumers. This then brings the question whether Bulawayo needs its version of dancehall – a genre that the city’s youths can identify with and support wholeheartedly.

Local artiste Khuxxman believes that the problem lies in the fact that the city’s music scene does not have an identity that young fans can identify with. While artistes in the capital, he says, have cultivated an identity that is easy to identify with for youths in the city, Bulawayo acts have yet to give fans a product that they can get behind.

This, he believes, and a lack of proper marketing strategies is the challenge that has regularly plagued young artistes in the city over the past few years. Hence, he believes, a new genre is long overdue.

“We definitely need something youthful and urban to take over in Bulawayo. We have good house music done by locals but it is not known because of a lack of marketing and the same goes for hip hop.

“What the guys in Harare are doing right is that they have given young people in Harare and everywhere else around the country a brand that they can support,” he said.

Fellow artiste and tribal house DJ, Nizhe believes that the some of the blame should also be laid at the doorsteps of music fans in the city who have shown little to no interest in the music by local artistes. He says that the apathy of young music fans, combined with a lack of resources is concoction for disaster. Therefore, he believes, what is needed is not a new genre but a renewed focus from the city’s young artistes and an increased local interest in music from Bulawayo.

“The rise of dancehall has been admirable but Bulawayo does not necessarily also need a new genre. The problem is that local fans seem to have a deep love for music from outside the city. If the people would show increased interest it would also motivate young artistes to raise their game up which in turn would also entice financial support from the corporate world. Crying for a new genre is implying that the music that has been served so far is bad which I don’t think is the case,” he said.

Whatever the case, it remains to be seen whether the city’s youth local music scene will resurrect from its own ashes or watch idly as the capital’s dancehall chanters continue to own the ears and hearts of local music fans.  The question thus still remains; Does Bulawayo need its own version of dancehall or only needs to polish up the hidden gems in its floundering music scene?