Musa Keys coming this weekend

THE Covid-19 pandemic had halted gigs as the gathering were banned.

With things slowly getting back to normal and live shows resuming, there are some who believe promoters are now focusing more on international acts than local ones.

Just this past weekend, amapiano kings, DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small alongside Zimbabwe’s own Sha Sha were a no show at the Victoria Falls Carnival, much to the dismay of revellers who had travelled to the resort city from all over the Southern African region.

This just added to the need for promoters to bank on local acts.

Despite these pop-up challenges, music promotion company, Infinity Sky Entertainment, is moving ahead in giving people “what they want”.

In an interview with The Herald Arts, Dumisani Chihoto from Infinity Sky Entertainment, who will be hosting buzzing South African amapiano musician Musa Keys this weekend in Harare and Bulawayo, revealed that they bring in artistes in response to public demand.

“As Infinity Sky Entertainment we try our best to understand the needs of our stakeholders who are the people who come out to shows,” said Chihoto.

“Bulawayo is very influenced by amapiano and Musa Keys is one of the people that we have been requested to bring since we started out in the promotion business.”

Responding to critics who say promoters do not treat local acts with respect, he said: “We ensure that each and every act is treated with utmost respect. The reason why people might see it differently is that we are trying to promote collaborations.

“Therefore, when an international act comes into the country, we open up room for locals interested in working with that act to meet up and discuss possible projects.”

Chihoto indicated that if it were true that locals had no value, they would not be billed to perform.

“If it was true that we do not value local acts then we would not even include them on the line-up,” he said. “This is our way of promoting music by integrating acts from all over the world.”