By Takura Zhangazha*
We probably need to talk a little bit more about our arts
and cultural spaces, actors, even industry(?) in Zimbabwe.
This would also include the interaction of the same with
politics, private business and the general public’s cultural progressive expectations
of entertainment and finding meaning about everyday or even long term
Zimbabwean life.
And I will start off the discussion with an obvious point about our ‘Arts’.
And by the term ‘Arts’
I mean it holistically as it relates to theatre, satire, music, film,
literature and the technological (media) mediums through which they have been
historically conveyed. As well as their
changing inter- generational impact.
Whereas between the 1980s- 90s and very early 2000s, our
Arts, as defined holistically above were conveyed through technological formats
such as mainly radio (FM or Short wave frequencies), long playing records, radio/video
cassettes and eventually compact audio and video discs. As well as via musical and cultural
festivals or shows. A greater official
number of them were sponsored by the state or private business for marketing
(profit) and propaganda (political) purposes.
There was however also organic, grassroots and historical
based Art, that relied more on physical interaction than it did the
technological mediums it could be conveyed through. Thought after our national independence it
did a seismic crossover to radio, television and the attendant commercialization
that came with this (record/cassette sales/ advertising contracts for
artists).
I have raised this fairly generalized historicity around art
and culture because it cannot be ignored.
And it can help us understand why today there has been significant changes
to how it is publicly appreciated in the contemporary.
With again the major change being the fact of the new technological mediums of its conveyance to the public.
To state the obvious, the internet, social media and mobile telephony have
distinctly changed how we all view holistic Art.
Not only its immediacy for our entertainment, self- valuation or
reflections on our society and existential or idealistic realities.
Whereas in the past we could have easily argued that Zimbabwean
Art should serve the people in some ideologically organic or even highly politicized
way as it related to the liberation struggle or workers rights and sustainable livelihoods
for all, now we do not really think about it that way.
Not only because of the changes as to how it is conveyed
technologically but also because of the way the latter also changes its
meaning. So where we used to listen to
the music of legends such as Mapfumo, Chimbetu, Zhakata, Majaivana, Dembo among
many others for deeper reflections on our society. This has now clearly changed.
This together with the likes of Safirio Madzikatire (Baba Rwizi), Susan Chenjerai
(Mai Rwizi), Phillip Mushangwe (Paraffin), Aaron Moyo and Simon Shumba
(Mutirowafanza). Including the amazing
theatrical plays of Theatre in the Park (Harare), the amazingly talented Continue-Loving
(Cont) Mhlanga’s Amhakosi theatre centre
in Bulawayo, Mai Musodzi Hall (Mbare), Zimbabwe Hall in Highfields Harare and
the Masvingo Theatre club among others scattered in our urban centres.
Their artistic physical and digital dramas and within their contexts had a different
meaning because of of how they occurred within their own contexts, values and
preferences. As they related to then Zimbabwean society and what the general
populace valued.
This was slower and more deeply thought out Art.
Mainly
because the technological mediums of its conveyance that I have cited above were
also slower. It was also Art that had a
fall back of very key state funding support that did not directly editorially
interfere with content creation. (Did
you for example know that there was a once well funded Zimbabwe Traditional
Music Dancers Association that once received grants from the state?)
What was since happened is what can be referred to a significant cultural disjuncture in the history, practice and appreciation of the meaning of holistic Art in Zimbabwe.
Not only
because of the global changes in its technological mediums (internet, social
media, mobile telephony) but also because of the cultural assimilation of
Zimbabwean and African holistic Art by these mediums. This included a quasi-privatization of Art
via changes in economic programmes where it began to be seen as a luxury and
not an integral part of an historical identity.
In the process, our Art began to mimic not only the structural
changes to its mediums but also following a new found celebrity trait that came
with its rapid commercialization and privatisation. As
owned by what in cultural academic circles are known as ‘media moguls’ and now individualistic,
materialist owners of the internet and
social media platforms. As they also now
interact more directly with political power/politicians and globalised private capital.
To be particular to Zimbabwe, our Arts landscape has significantly
changed as a reflection of global technological-cultural developments. And our easy cultural acquiescence in this. We generally don't defend our Arts as much as other countries are wont to do. (Hatina nharo).
Our new younger holistic Art practitioners are a product of
their technological and attendant cultural time. A few of them are the new Marechera’s who couldn’t
care less about global ideological questions and would easily tell you as the
latter once wrote ‘if you write for a specific nation or a specific race, then f*ck
you’. Mainly due to their own commitment to their own view of what it means to
be a genuine artist and their right to free expression.
A greater number of others are both patriotic and link up
with the state and private business for social media skits, clicks, likes and
sponsorships that appear to be sustaining their livelihoods quite well. This would
be the ‘ephemeral’ influencer generation that now appear to be the favorites of
ruling Zanu PF politicians and tend to be given vehicles and large monetary
payments based on the affinity of their content to the same said party.
There are others that are decidedly oppositional in their
Art. Also for the same sponsorship and recognition reasons.
The fewer ones are those that still believe in the meaning
of their Art as a somewhat objective reflection on what is happening in Zimbabwean
society and how it resonates with the more youthful population of the country. But they are unfortunately largely unable to
harness the new mediums of conveyance of Art (social media and the internet)
due to either the algorithmic tyranny we know exists or just to lack of funding
and mimicry of cultural and highly sexualized cultural content from the global
north.
To conclude, our holistic Art in Zimbabwe has changed
seismically. It is now mediated by new
mediums of technology. Which in turn create
new public expectations of it. It is
understandably steeped in new cultural mimicry of global trends and the ephemerality
of social media which we do not own.
Is there a way forward?
Sure there is. It is one that
resides in our own re-emergent cultural recognition and understanding that a
progressive African society can never function without Pan African, free,
organic, critical and stubborn non-mimicry holistical Art. Across generations.
*Takura Zhangazha writes here in his personal capacity
(takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com)
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