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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent 

THERE was something different and vibrant about this year’s Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, as female artistes’ presence was very much felt  throughout the six days.

From the beginning of the festival on Tuesday, women have been prominent at most events.

Gone are the days when women would have been in the background and working in the shadows as if they do not exist. During the festival, others discovered hidden talents that they had locked away in their closets and were perhaps afraid to showcase them in this cruel world of the arts.

Artistes like Tinashe Tafirenyika, who is known for her poetry, showed another side of her skills set. After winning awards as one of the best-spoken wordsmiths in the land, on Thursday night, she tried her hand at comedy.

Tinashe was part of a male-dominated line-up during the Borderline Insanity Comedy Show at the Hope Centre and judging from reviews, it seems she should add comedy to her skill set. Her performance happened days after she was an inspiration for over 100 school girls during the 100 Girls/ 100 Voices poetry event at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo. The poetry slam competition involved school girls from Emakhandeni, Cowdray Park, Nkulumane, Eveline, Maranatha, Premier and Sizane high schools among others. 

Tinashe hailed Intwasa for supporting women by making them headline some of the programmes/events.

“Intwasa over the years, has deliberately programmed shows to feature women. The 100 girls/100 Voices poetry event is one of them. I learnt a lot here from the high school kids in as much as I was teaching them.

“Even the Women, Wine and Words event has become the most attended event showing how much women are taking over the arts scene. It has an all-female line-up, something that shows the confidence people have in women,” Tinashe said.

Looking at theatre, most productions during the festival had female characters playing the “so-called” big roles. For example, in the play There is a Field, award-winning actor Nyaradzo Nhongonhema was one of the shining lights on stage. She was the main actor and helped drive the storyline, keeping theatre lovers glued to the stage.

Speaking of lights, what many people do not know is that at the Bulawayo Theatre, the person in charge of lighting for the duration of the festival is a woman by the name Chipo Mawarire. A product of the University of Zimbabwe, she is probably the only female lighting technician in Bulawayo. Chipo works around the clock from theatre productions that start in the morning and end at around 9PM. She has to be there during rehearsals and all. Diligently and quietly, Chipo has gone about her business. 

Today, the second last day of the festival, women will dominate the performances. One such show that gets people’s ears tuned and eyes lit is the Women Wine and Words which will be held at the National Gallery today, starting at 6PM. Men have become fans of this show and flood the venue to watch it as they believe female artistes give them value for money. This year on the menu are Tariro NeGitare, Novuyo Seagirl, Mimmie, Vuyo Brown, Afro Queens and Masa.

Another event that will have an all female cast is the play Vagina Monologues that will have Musa Sibanda, Agnes Ncube and Qeqe Mntambo. 

However, shows such as Bayethe Bulawayo Youth concert still have a deficiency in terms of female performers. The concert, which took place yesterday at the Large City Hall, had few female performers, save for a few backing vocalists/dancers. This should be corrected in the next edition because women are as important in entertainment as men are.

All in all, Intwasa Festival this year brought to the fore women and their issues. Many a time, women in the arts play second fiddle to their male counterparts and this was not the case. It should continue in the same vein for this and other events in the city and country so that more and more female artistes in each discipline can be more prominent. 

If this is done, it will enable women to speak more freely about their issues through art and become voices for the voiceless in society.