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Ndau Festival to market Chipinge

29 Sep, 2017 - 00:09 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Stephen Ephraem Post Correspondent
NDAU Festival of the Arts, a cultural event that took place last Saturday at Paiyepo Arts Development and Heritage Centre in Bangira Village of Chikore communal lands under Chief Musikavanhu in Chipinge East, is key in marketing the area’s tourism.

Chipinge, a town which came to life in the 1950s, has been renowned for being the only place which one can find all natural farming regions (Regions 1-5). The upper part of the district, commonly referred as “Kumatunhu”, is made up of Chipinge East, Central and North. Popular for its natural forests as well as wood, coffee, tea and macadamia nutplantations, “Kumatunhu” boasts The Big Tree of Chirinda Forest which is rated as the largest indigenous red mahogany tree in Southern Africa and the second largest in Africa.

Crops like maize, sweet potatoes, macadamia nuts, tea, coffee and fruits like avocado pears, pineapples and bananas as well as dairy farming are also found in that part. In tourism, Chirinda Forest’s Big Tree has a tired marketing strategy and is no longer that attractive to the international world.

The hot-dry lower valley of Chipinge, commonly referred to as “Gowa”, comprises Chipinge West and South and is known for wildlife as well as livestock, cotton, sorghum and sugarcane farming. In tourism, “Gowa” is home to Chipinge and Mahenye safari areas.

History has it that promotion of Muchongoyo and Chokoto dances in social circles dates back to the 1960s when people of status called Makorwa used to fund such galas in communities.

Handkerchief

The groups would compete for trophies as little as a handkerchief. Fast forward to the turn of the millennium, names of businessmen and politicians such as Messrs Wilson “Kujokochera” Kumbula, Enock Porusingazi and Mrs Marcia Moyana became synonymous with muchongoyo promotion in Chipinge South.

It is in 2013 that a fete by the name Ndau Festival of the Arts (NDAFA) co-ordinated by Mr Phillip Kusasa came into the arena. While Messrs Porusingazi and Kumbula focused on community and Moyana concentrated on school groups, NDAFA incorporated both.

Mrs Moyana, wife to former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Kombo Moyana’s Mtetwa Wamuka Cultural Symposium should be credited for scoring a first by taking muchongoyo to international platforms. In 2013, Garahwa Primary School Muchongoyo under Mtetwa Wamuka Symposium managed to showcase in Harare, twice at Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA) and once at Sam Levy’s Village in Borrowdale.

This day, NDAFA is reliving that dream. Instead of travelling to other parts of the country to showcase, Ndau Festival of the Arts luring people to Chipinge to consume undiluted Ndau and Tsonga (Shangaan) cultures.

Universities

This year’s edition, which ran under the theme “Taking oral tradition into the digital world”, saw three institutions of higher learning – Midlands State University, Great Zimbabwe University and Ezekiel Guti University – participating at the festival. According to co-ordinator Mr Kusasa, the 2017 edition carved a niche in tourism.

Said Mr Kusasa: “The touring of dignitaries, mass media and universities to Chipinge is key in our efforts to document African culture.”

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