Summit to put spotlight on Zimdancehall

Panellists at the event include Dadza D, Sniper Storm, Nutty O, DJ Fantan, Lady B and Empress. The summit is organised by Sonny Chibuwe, Godfrey Bakasa and by Germany-based journalist and music critic Plot Mhako. The event comes after the Zim Hip Hop Summit in September last year.

“The main goal of the summit is to create a platform where different players within the industry are able to engage in dialogue to touch on the current state of Zim dancehall music, the challenges and to explore the opportunities that Zimdancehall music has to offer,” Plot Mhako told Music In Africa.

“We want to use the summit to build a viable and sustainable music industry for the genre because by numbers this is the biggest youth culture in the country. It has been like this for the past four or five years, but without creating such a summit it will come to pass.”

Mhako said the summit would aim to forge a consensus among Zimdancehall industry players.  

“We want to see how artists and producers can create a conversation by establishing a code of conduct and ethics. We also want to use the platform as a lobbying mechanism because right now it’s difficult for a single artist to speak to the government and be heard," he said.

“As a collective this platform can play an advocacy role to speak to the government and engage it on what needs to be done to ensure that there is a functioning industry.”

The event, Mhako said, would also explore the social impact of Zimdancehall and the challenges faced by artists.

Intergenerational conversation

Chimurenga legend Thomas Mapfumo has said Zimdancehall artists must stop mimicking Jamaican dancehall musicians. He has also encouraged those singing in Shona to also sing in English so they could appeal to international audiences.

Asked if the summit would address Mapfumo's criticism of the genre, Mhako said: “These are some of the key things we want to address in terms of originality and also its connection to native Zimbabwean music. Zimdancehall is urban, trendy and youthful, but ultimately there are ways to make it have a strong connection to traditional music.

“Mapfumo's criticism has created debate and there is need for an intergenerational conversation because young people are not too connected to old music styles. There are more into pop, hip hop, dancehall and Afro-pop but we believe that somewhere, somehow there can be interaction between these two generations."

Summit to address piracy

Mhako said piracy would be a key point on the agenda at the ZimDancehall Summit.

“Most Zimdancehall artists put their music free for download," he said. "They have their reasons to do so, but the government hasn’t been active when it comes to fighting piracy. Law enforcement agents themselves buy pirated CDs."

But Mhako believes Zimdancehall has a bright future ahead of it. “We have a small window of opportunity that if missed can spell doom for the genre just as it happened with urban grooves. Zimdancehall is still bubbling and still playing. If you look at the top five artists in the country, you'll find that two of them are dancehall artists, such as Killer T and Winky D.”

"Kwaito started off as digong but now we have other subgenres such as gqom. I feel Zimdancehall could take that direction where sub-elements can start to come out of it. If you look at Killer T’s music at times you ask yourself, 'Is it still Zimdancehall?'"