RISING traditional music band Nhangamabwe at the weekend emerged the 2020 champions at the Imagine national competition hosted annually by Music Crossroads Academy and it will represent Zimbabwe at the international competitions in Europe in September.
BY TAFADZWA KACHIKO
Imagine is an all-styles competition and training programme for young people aged between 13 and 21, which is organised internationally by Jeunesse Musicales International in Europe.
Nhangamabwe triumphed after beating Luyando from Victoria Falls, Midlands Christian College (Gweru) and Phala (Harare) in a competition described as tough by judges’ representative Prudence Katomeni-Mbofana.
“Judging has never been a very easy thing to do especially if the competition is tough. This was the case with this competition where the participating bands exhibited so much talent. A bit disappointing was that we had seven entries but out of that number only four managed to come through and perform,” she said.
Mbofana told NewsDay Life & Style that they took time to share constructive criticism with participating bands as a way of shaping them for the betterment of their musical careers.
“Most of the performances were very good. However, being young performers there is always that inexperience in certain places. So we found it befitting to have a one-on-one with each band to give constructive criticism before announcing results. It was also to motivate and assure them of a bright future ahead of them,” she said. Winning band representative Abel Mafuleni said they would start preparations for the next competition taking into account areas which they were told by judges to work on.
“When the judges called us for a one-on-one and pointed out our mistakes, I felt like we had lost. We are so excited by this victory which has given us the energy to work extra hard. We will start practising this coming week, taking into consideration areas which judges said needed polishing,” he said.
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Imagine competitions are also held in Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, France, Poland, Spain and Sweden and last year, Zimbabwe was represented by Wenyombwe Band in Maastricht, Netherlands.
