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Mbulelo Mpofu

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WHEN Covid-19 had a firm grip on people’s lives, a knight in shining armour showed face in the form of Harare-based music production company, Nash TV, through a virtual musical show that gave musicians a chance to showcase their talent on YouTube.

This was a reprieve for musicians who had no live performances to conduct as the channel hosted programmes like the Colour Vibes, the Hotspot Show, The Big Vibe Podcast, and, Gospel Vibes Album.

Surprisingly, a section of Bulawayo artistes feel like the company is shortchanging them and not pushing their content “aggressively” as they do for their Harare counterparts.

Ishmael Kay

Among these is Ishmael Kay, an artiste from Bulawayo who visited Nash TV studios to record the song, “Sophumelela” on the channel’s Hotspot Show in 2021 feels like the channel has a bias towards artistes from the capital.

“I feel like there’s less effort by the Nash TV social media managers on promoting our content in comparison to how they push content from Harare artistes. I knew the song was nice and making such moves, and I thought it would go a long way, but it seems the song is still stuck on 2 5000 views.

“I feel like it wasn’t promoted at all. After paying US$100 to appear on the show, I feel like enough isn’t done to push content from artistes from Bulawayo,” ranted the artiste.

The song in question, which was sung by Ziee Xayn ft Ishmael Kay & Asaph was premiered on Aug 27, 2021 and had 2,457 views (at the time of writing).

An observation by Chronicle Showbiz showed that content from creatives from Harare commands more viewership than those from Bulawayo artistes, but this is not an open and shut case as viewership is subjective on one’s liking of the song/artiste.

In an interview, Head of Nash TV, Kelvin Jumo thwarted these allegations levelled against the channel.

“That’s a lie! Our TV channel is well-known for promoting Bulawayo, and we have received numerous comments from the region thanking us for our efforts. Starting from the lockdown period, we have brought in popular artists such as Iyasa, Sandra Ndebele, and Mzoe 7, among others.

“We always include artistes from Bulawayo in our official projects. For example, the NashNation R&B album features Nate and Asaph, who are both from Bulawayo. We even launched our first StreetVibes programme and talent search in Bulawayo, which was a success.

“If you look at our content, you will see that we regularly feature artistes from Bulawayo”

He said they are open to working with anyone regardless of location.

“Our platform is for everyone regardless of their location or ethnicity. Let’s work together,” said Jumo. – @MbuleloMpofu