The Bulawayo Music Festival: An Important Educational and Musicological Exhibition for Music Enthusiasts
- August 11, 2021
- Posted by: rsispostadmin
- Categories: IJRISS, Social Science
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume V, Issue VII, July 2021 | ISSN 2454–6186
Caleb Mauwa
PhD Ethnomusicology Student: University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Abstract: This article sought to explore the intricacies of the Bulawayo Music Festival, its underlying objectives, themes, approaches, significance and history. The Zimbabwean musical practices have always been diverse from region to region as a result of its multi-cultural society which includes nationalities from across the whole African content as well as foreign originating races and tribes from the colonial times. The festival, hosted in the centre of Zimbabwe’s Matabeleland Province, is unique for providing a platform that exposes the native people to exotic music through live performance demonstrations and educational workshops. The performers and audience alike, benefit immensely from these interactions, the former gaining exposure in the entertainment scenes and the latter gaining knowledge of music trends both local and exotic. Despite the outward appearance of fun and festivities that is apparent to the casual observer during the festival, there is actually more to it than meets the eye. It represents resilience of a people besieged by so many woes from so many angles and how they have all managed to thrive and eventually learning to work towards a common cause despite their differences. The Bulawayo Music Festival, just like any other social activity or trend, has evolved somewhat over the past decade however the underlying essence that prompted its inception still remains that it brings different people together through music. The article explores the essentials of the activities and significance associated with the Bulawayo Music festival both at its inception as well as in its progression over the years.
Index words: Bulawayo music festival, Classic concertos, exotic music, legendary composers, pioneer artists
I. INTRODUCTION
The execution of different music festivals in Zimbabwe is still in progressing fast, however there is one particular music festival that is proving its uniqueness in developments, organization, rational and significance over time to the Zimbabweans. In an attempt to define a festival, different people have diverse definitions of festivals, but generally a festival is an occasion typically performed by a particularly a group of people and focusing on some distinctive features of the peoples culture and interests. Caves (2004) postulates that a festival constitutes typical cases of globalisation as well as the high culture-low culture interrelationship(s). Chris and Connell (2003) in Rudolph (2016:8) assert that music festivals are “events consisting of a variety of bands and musical artists performing shows, on numerous stages, over a period of days to a large audience in outside and inside venues”. I concur
