Raisedon Baya

THERE is something unsettling about Bulawayo audiences — one can never claim to know or understand them. One moment you feel like you know them and can almost predict their behaviour. Then when you are relaxed Boom! They surprise you. Talking to some friends and colleagues in the arts (this was after last week’s flop) the general feeling is that Bulawayo audiences are more at home when invited to attend an event featuring South African artistes than their own. Perhaps it’s a question of foreign is better than local — who knows?

In the past two weeks Bulawayo hosted some big music shows. First, there was the Busy Signal and Busiswa concert which had a massive turnout before it turned violent and had to be abandoned before the big acts went on stage. On that night thousands of music fans thronged City Hall Car Park and paid their $10 to see their so-called stars on stage. It was meant to be a night of fun but turned otherwise.

A week later there was another concert, at the same venue, celebrating local talent and local music. The concert, organised by ZBCtv, had no one bothering to turn up to support local talent. The City Hall Car Park was empty. I am still failing to understand how 28 of Bulawayo’s “best” bands and top musicians failed to attract a decent audience. A decent audience here can loosely be something averaging about 500 people, at least a paying audience. (Five hundred people would have translated to each band attracting at least 20 people to the show). So why did the Bulawayo crowds shun this show?