Groove Magazine International Issue 3 Issue 3

In the Groove… Shoko Festival All year round in Zimbabwe there are several artistic and cultural festivals going on and with each comes a different vibe and bigger, newer and explosive acts. One of the most important and talked about festivals on the urban scene is non-other than the internationally acclaimed Shoko Festival. With the theme "Re-inspire & to re-imagine!” one could only imagine what this year's festival has got in store. Shoko did something different this year in the form of ambassadors from Zimbabwe who will be headline acts at the festival and these include Netsayi, Tehn Diamond, Ammara Brown, Q the Boss, Jason Leroux, Rax & Raydizz and Ba Shupi. Also headlining this year's festival was German-Nigerian singer and songwriter Nneka, who unfortunately pulled out last minute and was then replaced by South Africa's award winning Motswako rapper, Hip Hop Pantsula, (HHP for short). South African duo of Loyiso Gola and Chester Missing also headlined the Shoko Comedy Night both fused in a cocktail with Zimbabwe's very own comedians. And for poetry lovers, Buddy Wakeﬁeld from the USA took over the spoken word stage. MTV VMAs We waited all year long for pop culture's most popular music video awards, the MTV Video Music Awards (which we always compare year by year which ones are better). This year at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards Miley Cyrus took home the top award for her Terry Richardson-helmed "Wrecking Ball" clip — but had someone else take the stage to accept her Moon man and deliver a passionate speech about teenage homelessness in America. Meanwhile, other winners included Lorde, who collected the trophy for Best Rock Video for "Royals"; Katy Perry, whose "Dark Horse" earned Best Female Video; Drake nabbed Best Hip-Hop Video for his "Hold On, We're Going Home" mini-movie; and Ariana Grande, who picked up Best Pop Video for her "Problem" short. Beyoncé shut down all rumours of her divorce as she had husband Jay Z and daughter Blue Ivy with her on stage as she received her Michael Jackson Vanguard award after giving her best award performance ever in a medley of her best hits mostly from her self-titled album, “Beyoncé”. Now that was ﬂawless! ZIMA Awards Back! Back in 2003, Zimbabweans got a taste of the ﬁrst ever national music awards, the Zimbabwe Music Awards, which had potential to grow, since there was a birth of an era of new artists, this was a great way of merging the older and well established generation of musicians and the younger, upcoming generation. So after a seven year absence, the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) returned and the much hyped about awards shows which were originally set for Friday October 3, 2014 ﬁnally took place on October 29, 2014 at the Harare International Conference Centre (HICC). A number of big industry players attended including representatives from the top radio stations in the country, models, artists from different music genres and the public at large. Zimbabweans got a taste of a night of entertainment however, because of the supposed size of the event, there should have been fewer glitches and it was important to deliver what was promised. Maybe ZIMA 2015 will ha ٔ

Groove Magazine International Issue 3 Issue 3 | Page 4