The Standard (Zimbabwe)

BVS rises from ashes

- BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA right), Standard Style

MUFAKOSE BASED arts organiser Tinei Notice Mazura, aka Boss Bingu (pictured

has opened up about the painful period since his edgling production house — Bingu Village Studios (BVS) — was gutted by re last year, the subsequent emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic and pains of nurturing new talent in the country.

Early last year, Boss Bingu realised his dream of establishi­ng BVS, but since then all has not been rosy for the passionate arts promoter.

In an interview with recently, he recounted how a technical fault, last year in August, left him and various aspiring musicians counting losses as their projects went up in smoke.

“When the studio caught re we tried all we could to save it, but we were not successful so we lost everything and it was devastatin­g,” he said.

“Another thing that made me sad beyond the incident is that there are people who in uenced people I had been working with then including our inhouse producer to leave me during such a hard time.”

But, with the assistance of colleagues and well-wishers, BVS bounced back in February this year before the Covid-19 pandemic threatened to douse the new ame again.

“Things have been hard because most of the people we work with are ghetto youths and they do not have much so we reduced our prices to as low as a dollar for a session and sometimes we would record free to remain in the game,” said Boss Bingu, whose e orts to cope in the game have been supplement­ed by handouts of late.

A mechanic by profession, Boss Bingu insists that his work in the arts is driven by passion and the wish to see unknown artistes rise through to be recognised on a grand stage.

“I am working with undergroun­d artistes who wish to get to the stage of being called upcoming and those I have worked with so far are doing good,” he said.

“There is lots of talent in the ghetto, but this talent without resources is as good as nothing because it will not go anywhere so we as ghetto promoters we are struggling to give them a chance to record easily so they can be heard.”

Meanwhile, Boss Bingu — also known for promoting traditiona­l dance troupes — said even if the relaxation of Covid-19 regulation­s has made their way of doing business easier, “there is need for more corporate nancial support for our projects to be sustainabl­e.”

 ??  ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Zimbabwe