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Leonard Ncube, Victoria Falls Reporter

 THE COVID-19 induced lockdown has been a wake-up call for artistes in Victoria Falls who have been forced by fate, to be innovative and stage shows online to remain relevant.

Over the years, most artistes who include traditional dance groups, musicians and DJs in the resort town had been reluctant to look for other means of making money as they relied on gigs from corporate events as well as entertaining tourists.

For example, traditional dance groups were permanent features at the Victoria Falls International Airport and hotel entrances where they sang and danced for tourists on arrival in return for anything that a visitor could give.

While for years this had been paying for them, hard times faced by the tourism industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic, has seen the artistes getting affected as they no longer have sources of income.

But, to try and remain relevant, some DJs have come up with online shows which they are hosting during weekends.

The shows are slowly being embraced with renowned DJ Spevar, who is the organiser of the Mapopoma Festival saying they will continue to stage these shows on Facebook.

“We love what we do and we’re doing online mixes to keep our fans entertained. Being on lockdown is stressful for most and music is the best way to cheer up people.

“For us, these virtual shows are good in that we get to capture a wider audience while also marketing ourselves online,” said DJ Spevar.

 He said the pandemic had been an eye opener for them as they are not looking at other ways of reaching out to fans and making money in the process.

“Our tourism industry has been hit hard and this has affected every other sector dependent on it including arts. We won’t have any work for months to come and it’s now up to us to innovate as an arts industry to remain relevant.”

 From the beginning of this month, DJ Spevar has been conducting virtual shows with DJ Kiri Kiri, JVan (both Breeze FM presenters) and DJ Fatso.

@ncubeleon