Zimpapers Logo

Entertainment Reporter

Four Bulawayo dance groups, New age, Shosholoza Bulawayo Queens dance troupe and Ziyawa dance troupe are set to combine under one management company.

Although the quartet keeps their individual group names, they will from now on operate under the banner of Jaiva Entertainment. The management company is run by Bukhosi “Mr Jaiva” Nyathi.

In an interview Nyathi, the founder of New Age dance group and former backing vocalist for songbird Sandra Ndebele, said he had decided to bring all the dance crews under one banner as he had noticed that a lot of groups in Bulawayo were failing succeed due to a lack of an effective management.

“The four will now be managed by one management company because I feel that there is a lack of an effective management within the Bulawayo arts scene.

“The reason why most of the groups in Bulawayo fail to reach their potential is that they are poorly managed and as such we plan to change that through Jaiva Entertainment,” he said.

Nyathi said they aimed to increase the level of professionalism in the local arts scene by assisting artistes take better care of the returns they made from performances.

“A lot of artistes end up spending the money they earn from performances at the very same bars where they got the money from.

“Therefore the money instantly goes back from where it came from. We are planning to change that because we have noticed that the problem is not a lack of money, but how it is spent by the artistes themselves,” he said.

Nyathi said that they would welcome with open arms anyone who wanted to help the four groups financially as it was the only way they could improve their music. He also said other dance groups were also free to join the management company.

“We will not close the door to anyone wishing to help the group financially. It would also help us improve our music as, for example, we would one day look to move away from the present situation where we are using digital equipment for our performances. In future we see ourselves performing with live bands,” he said.