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Well, at least that was the theory when this year’s Zimbabwe Power in the Voice national finals were scheduled to take place during the six-day Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) at the beginning of May.
Power in the Voice is a British Council programme in which professional African and UK artists mentor schoolchildren and youth groups to prepare them for the battle-of-the-bands style contest. The mentors teach the school-children skills in rap, poetry and storytelling. The artists also interact with each other to share techniques and opinions.
After a series of workshops with mentors, the children form teams and develop their own performance. Each team presents their performance live, culminating in a national final. From the national finals, two finalists from each of the competing countries (Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, South Africa, the UK, Zambia and Zimbabwe) are selected to participate in the Grand Final, this year comprising a three-day festival to be held in Botswana in August.
But with political tensions running high following the Zimbabwean elections, and with the Ministry of Education wary of allowing children on a potentially politically-dissident stage, the final was cancelled a week before it was due to take place, denying 43 children the opportunity to showcase their skills.
With an empty theatre beckoning, the British Council in Zimbabwe turned to the Power in the Voice mentors to fill the gap. They also changed the name from 'Power in the Voice' to 'Rap and Poetry Milkshake', after the Ministry of Education informally expressed its dissatisfaction with the word 'power' being used to describe the performance.
Asked whether the mentors had performed against government wishes, event organiser Sekai Mpisaunga said: 'These performers, adults and professionals in their own right, were not asked to stand down by the government. They delivered evocative performances that captured the imagination of the 200-odd people who attended the show. You can’t put a lid on talent.'
Although the audience was a far cry from the 500 people that Mpisaunga had expected at the Power in the Voice finals, the 'Rap and Poetry Milkshake' was well received. Along with a general mood of determination – the theme of this year’s Festival – Mpisaunga added that there was also a strong feeling of dissatisfaction about the political climate expressed in the work of the artists at the Milkshake.
Mpisaunga said that while confusion about the showcase had caused lower than capacity attendance figures at the Milkshake, the British Council’s other projects experienced the opposite problem.
'HIFA Direct', a joint project between HIFA and the British Council, is a programme aimed at nurturing and mentoring future theatre directors within Zimbabwe. 'HIFA Direct' staged three plays at the Festival: Loupe, Everyday Heroes and Silent Words. All three plays attracted audiences of more than 300 and all three were well received by audiences who packed into the small auditoriums.
The plays, written last year as part of the British Council’s 'High Five' programme – a mentoring programme for up-and-coming writers – are a testament to the effectiveness of the British Council’s mentoring programmes.
Sadly, while HIFA was described as a success by Mpisaunga, she did lament the lack of international artists who were, she felt, quite reluctant to attend due to the political uncertainty in Zimbabwe at the time.
Yet despite this, several artists from around the world attended the Festival, including South Africa’s pop group Freshly Ground; Canaman, a reggae group from Spain and 3MA from Morocco.
Sadly, for the 43 Power in the Voice contestants, the final has been postponed indefinitely.
'We are at a loss as to how to carry on,' said Mpisaunga. 'The children are very upset, and we have no idea how to proceed from here.'
With the presidential election run-off scheduled for this month, Mpisaunga is hoping for clarity once the political situation is resolved. Whatever the outcome, she is determined that Zimbabwe will not miss out on the Grand Finals in Botswana.
'If things don’t work out after the election run-off we will have to randomly select one of our ATS [private] school students,' she said. 'It won’t be fair, but that’s all we can do. Until then we’ve been left hanging.'
With the participants needing permission from their parents and their schools to participate in the Grand Final, private schools are less likely to prevent their students from participating.
The British Council hosts several events monthly in offices around Africa. You can read more about what the British Council does in Africa, as well as scheduled upcoming events. The British Council works in 23 countries across Africa, and runs several programmes for schools, including Connecting Classrooms and Dreams + Teams.
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