BY TENDAI SAUTA CHILDREN’S Performing Arts Workshop (Chipawo) director Chipo Basopo says he was uplifted spiritually as the Southern African Festival (SAFE) for children and young creatives from Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe commemorated the life of the late theatre legend Stephen Chifunyise.
The creatives churned out highly energetic and captivating performances at Theatre in the Park in the Harare Gardens through poetry, theatre, dance and music derived from Chifunyise’s collection of stories Takura and the Branch.
Chifunyise, who was affectionately called Uncle Steve because of his passion for nurturing children’s artistry, passed on on August 5, 2019 just as SAFE launched.
Basopo told NewsDay Life & Style that Chipawo was celebrating three decades of performing arts, which coincided with the third edition of the SAFE festival running under the theme Takura/Sikhulile, which means we have grown.
The festival marked the third anniversary of the great arts giant Chifunyise, the founding member of Chipawo and SAFE ambassador’s death.
Basopo explained that this year’s theme was a creative response in celebrating the artistic works that the children and young people from Africa are producing and showcasing.
The theme is derived from a book written by the late Chifunyise in his pursuit to protect our intangible cultural heritage and the environment.
A candle-lit moment of silence was observed in honour of yet another arts think tank Continueloving “Cont” Mhlanga who passed on last week.
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Mhlanga was buried on the third day of the festival, on Saturday, August 6, while Uncle Steve’s memorial saw a low turnout, probably as a result of fellow artists travelling to Bulawayo to bid farewell to Mhlanga.
Back to Theatre in the Park, children and young people from Dzivarasekwa-based arts hub Dzikwa Trust gave an enigmatic showcase of nyambera, a hunters and traditional Zimbabwean dance.
Alouis Sagota, the Arts and Culture co-ordinator at Dzikwa, said their organisation was a beneficiary of several successful initiatives in the promotion of arts by the late Chifunyise.
“It has been our long-term goal to be an established institute in terms of performing arts to groom and give children and young people a good cultural background, confidence, self-efficacy and self-sustenance. The secret behind this is that we train the children every weekend,” he said.
Sagota added: “Steven Chifunyise was a seriously committed person in the performances and teaching of arts as well as their resourcing.”
Chipawo brought humour to the house through an act from one of Chifunyise’s theatre scripts, which had his favourite characters Chipo and Rudo.
The act pronounced a recurring motif in Chifunyise’s write-ups on sexuality, career guidance and the right steps to a happy marriage.
ICT programming and urban grooves founding musician David Chifunyise, who spoke on and behalf of the Chifunyise family, said his father was a role model both at home and work.
Renowned jazz musician Victor Kunonga demonstrated his marimba playing prowess by skilfully hammering the late August Musarurwa’s hit Skokiaan.
Zambia had two groups, Zambezi Arts Education Centre and Child Exposure In Zambian Arts Trust (Chieza).
The former performed a protest theatrical act called Black Bond on child abuse, gender and child labour among other concerns.
Bernard Mutambwa, who spoke on behalf of the group, said their act inculcated a culture of addressing several moral issues on social displacements of children, adults and the youth.
The second group, Chieza, reflected on several milestones realised through Chipawo as they toasted poetic narratives on the late Chifunyise, culminating in a chiyanda dance celebration.
Actress Eunice Tava, who directed the proceedings, said Chifunyise left a void which “we should all strive to fill”.
“I acted and won several awards through scripts penned by Chifunyise and am in yet another achievement as I have been chosen to act as aunt in the upcoming film Wedding Night, which was originally meant for stage acting,” she said.
Botswana’s Children’s Trust Performing Arts ensemble, made up of schoolchildren, staged its tsutsube and phatise dances with great expertise.
Phenyo Mogotsi, who spoke on behalf of the group’s artistic director Edward Moraka, bemoaned that performing arts was only being taught as a fringe subject in schools.
“It is a good experience to watch nyambera dance, which shows a lot of energy in Zimbabwean children,” said Mogotsi, adding that Botswana’s Youth, Arts and Sports ministry was very supportive of the arts industry.
