#It’sokaytobedifferent - Epic Gig
“Monday morning Blues? Why not change the colour of your Monday to yellow and brighten up the coming week?” – Kanika Saxena
MBABANE- #IT’SOKTOBEDIFFERENT!
The Epic Gig episode IV has unveiled its logo for this year, which has been dubbed #IT’SOKTOBEDIFFERENT! This is the fourth episode which will be held at Mavuso Trade and Exhibition Centre on June 30 July 2, 2023.
This year, the festival will last for three days, than the normal two days in previous years. In an exclusive interview with this publication, Festival Director Tammy Dlamini from Toxic Entertainment, when reached for comment elaborated on the campaign and said, ‘‘We are still looking for brand ambassadors to implement this year’s campaign.
‘‘As you would know Eswatini is still conservative, hence we decided to introduce the #It’s okay to be different campaign. The youth is currently riding on that wave that it’s actually okay to be different from others.
These are our children, sisters and brothers and we all know of someone who is different.’’ However
Dlamini shared with this publication that they haven’t confirmed any ambassadors as well as the MC. He said the reason is that when it comes to selecting one, it depends on the relevance at the time as it seasonally changes and they need someone who will be trending at that time. Dlamini went on to say, ‘‘This year so far we have plus sizes and one albino who have shown interest in being brand ambassadors.
This shows positivity, because you can tell that people were waiting for this move. The campaign is centered on being different which is the core part of this year Epic Gig Festival. We are trying to help the youth to stay out of trouble by not giving into peer pressure. Our youth should know its okay to be different.
Pressure
‘‘It’s like finding yourself under pressure to drink alcohol or having a sugar daddy because your friends are doing it. As a festival we want to promote good social behaviour.” When quizzed on who came up with this campaign, Dlamini shared with this publication that it was his brain child. “I came up with the logo last year, but I didn’t know how to implement it as we have just come out of the COVID-19 era. As we are still recovering from the pandemic, we decided to just keep it simple and not overload them with this campaign. We decided that we just keep it as the normal Epic Gig that people know, not to overload them. We didn’t want to confuse people.”
Dlamini went on to share that as the Epic Gig team they are all society. To address the third issues of employment, we will call in the youth who have finished school and the industry players to come and work with us to empower them as this year it will be three days. ‘‘We calling artists, painters, sketchers to have a stand to sell their wares to empower them so they know that you don’t need to be employed to make money especially in arts.”
Arts
The festival director went on to say that they will identify what one is good at then market them from arts, painters, everyone who is talented is invited to have a stand.
He went on to say that they, as a festival, are trying to lobby to also bring in the relevant ministries to buy in so they can support the youth.
“For example we should not be expecting someone who wants to start a business to have to pay high fees to register the company, they then become demotivated. Same goes for business bank accounts, it should cater for the new comers who are still trying to make money.
So that when they finally get money deposited into their account, bank charges take a huge bulk of it.
But more will be revealed at the launch which will be revealed at a later stage.’’
Youth
In conclusion, Dlamini said he doesn’t want to appear like he is the advocate for the youth, but will share more at the launch.
Back in 2017 in June, Dlamini had a brain wave about hosting a show that would not only bring big names in the country, but he wanted it to be different and the line-up to be too good to be true, hence the name ‘Epic’ was born.
The logo hasn’t changed since the original concept from five years ago. Sadly three weeks before the first ever Epic Gig, Dlamini was involved in a life threatening car accident. He was hospitalised for months and missed the first one. The first gig was held on June 24, 2017.Last year’s festival was held at Malkerns Country Club on June 25-26.