SCENE
By Tendekai Tati
Shoko Festival: We Are
The People!
In the Scope of a Poet’s view: Shoko
festival 2013
The poetry scene in Zimbabwe as it
stands has a lot of talent and
contrary to what most people say, it
has and it is still growing, it’s only
that the progression is gradual. One
of the platforms to thank for this
gradual progression has notably
been the Shoko festival.
As biased to poetry as this article is,
what is the Shoko Festival anyway?,
Lest we might take it for granted
that the individual reading this is
aware.
According to the founders, the
Shoko Festival is an initiative of
Magamba network, one of the
country’s leading urban culture
organisation working on the cutting
edge of culture activism and new
media. The festival was launched in
2011 beginning as a 3 day
programme , going on to expand to
a 6 day programme in 2012. It has
brought together leading
International acts and leading local
acts in their various sectors of art.
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That includes music, comedy,
poetry , and some elements of the
Hip hop culture including graffiti
and dance.
Who is the Suitable audience?
Well in my opinion, the festival is
so versatile that everyone is
included; all it takes is to just pick
up the programme (which is in the
form of a magazine by the way)
and choose which shows that suit
your preference from the line up of
shows. In addition, the festival
also includes a number of
workshops for artists and the
community.
On this years’ programme,
performances kicked off with the
Shoko Comedy Night. The Host
was Clive Chigubhu , the youngest
fastest growing stand-up
comedian in Zimbabwe (Google
that name). On the line-up of
comedians were Carl Joshua
Ncube, Simba the Comic King ,
both from Zimbabwe , then Kagiso
Lediga and Tumi Morake , both
from South Africa. All five are the
biggest names in both countries
and indeed they proved why.
The second night was the
‘Breaking Barriers ’ poet