The ManicaPost
Luthando Mapepa Chipinge Correspondent
CLOSE to 3 000 people are expected to attend the fifth edition of the Ndau Festival of Arts slated for September 23.
The event, which has grown from strength to strength since inception, will be held at its traditional venue – Payiepo Arts Development and Heritage Centre in Bangira Village, Chipinge East.
This year’s edition will be running under the theme “Taking oral tradition into the digital world; A step towards preserving the Ndau culture”.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development, Promotion and Preservation of National Culture and Heritage Advocate George Magosvongwe is expected to officially open the festival.
Reputed Ndau writer Mbuya Joyce Simango, who was the first woman to publish a Ndau novel in 1974; researchers Mr Ishmael Penyai, Professor Willie Chigidi and others will also grace the festival.
NDAFA chairperson Mr Philip Kusasa said the once little-known festival in the country was now a bigger event, as it was attracting bigger crowds with each passing year.
Mr Kusasa said preparations to host the festival were at an advanced stage, as scores of traditional groups had confirmed their participation.
He said the Ndau Festival was a community-based annual festival aimed at promoting minority cultures through music, traditional dance and crafts.
“The festival is now bigger, as witnessed by scores of participants from all corners of the country who confirmed their participation.
“We have extended invitations to minority cultures in the country to come and tell their way of life in line with the new Constitution, which upgraded minority languages such as Ndau, Venda, Tonga, Nambya to official languages.
“We are expecting a crowd of over 3 000 people on this day and we are urging schools to attend the festival, as every school now has a culture group.
“There will be also exhibitions of crafts, traditional foods and herbs,” he said.
