Entertainment Music

Diamonds in the rough showcase talent

UPCOMING secular artistes in Southern and Western provinces were last Saturday challenged to showcase their talent and convince music buffs that they are worth spending on oneâ€™s hand earned money on.
This was at an event dubbed â€˜Zipompeâ€ organised by Connexion Entertainment chief executive officer Davison Musanda, who is Zambia Association of Musicians Southern Province chairperson, who brought together about 20 artistes from Livingstone, Sesheke, and Choma.
He said the idea behind Zipompe, loosely translated as â€˜show-offâ€™ in colloquial Cinyanja, was to see artistes showcase their talent, advertise themselves and also help them gain confidence so that the general public could appreciate their talents.
The event was free of charge to showgoers, but unfortunately it was poorly attended, probably because the same venue had hosted Chef the previous night.
Speaking in an interview, Musanda who is also known as DJ Massaj, said artistes in Livingstone had lately been struggling to put up money-spinning concerts because they lack a following from the communities around them.
He said there is need for artistes in the two regions, especially those in the tourist capital Livingstone, to improve their stage performance and also do live performances.
â€œWe need to reach a level where our performance on stage is perfect; artistes need to prove to the Livingstone community that they can compete with other artistes in Lusaka and the country as a whole. They need to showcase something of high value that people can pay for,â€ Musanda said.
Musanda said the event was also meant to break barriers between artistes in different parts of the country and furthermore, orient them on how to host big events.
He urged all upcoming artistes across the country to prove that they are worth paying for at an event anywhere.
The event was propelled by an excellent sound system, courtesy of Lee Love Sound Systems. Therefore, performing artistes had no excuse for mediocre performance.
Musanda noted that the Southern and Western regions have lots of untapped potential as most of the raw artistes were only producers who need sponsors and managers.
â€œIf you are looking for talent, this is the time you can get them. You need to start managing them from the grassroot when they are not known. If you start working with them now, you can make money with them,â€ he said.

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