By Shepherd Mutamba

CHIMANIMANI – In hard times like this when every penny counts villagers here could not care less. They abandon all daily chores that spin them income and descend en masse from their mountain homes defying the nippy drizzles in search of the drumbeat - ‘kwarira ngoma’.
Even the factory workers in greasy overalls and muddy boots desert the saw-mills at the pine yards and rush to the drumbeat - ‘kwarira ngoma’.
Illegal gold diggers too could not care less either. Mining can stop for now altogether. Fun-fare must take precedence, after all this is the Chimanimani Arts Festival and it comes only once a year.
The countryside community here holds dear this festival of the arts. Everything grinds to a halt and the place to be is the ‘village’ - a civic centre and the heart and soul of this resort and venue for the three-day arts fiesta.
When the city dwellers from as far afield as Harare, over 400kilometres away, arrive for the celebration in their rough terrain 4x4s, neighbours from across the border in Mozambique - just 10kilometres away - also pitch up after an hour’s walk or so in search of the drumbeat – ‘kwarira ngoma’.
And the Mozambicans are not back home in a hurry. There is no need. They are in good company here and can stay for as long as the drumbeat lasts.
The artists who converged here represented a reasonably comprehensive though not entirely exhaustive cross section of the popular arts. There was drama, there was poetry, there was story-telling, dance, film, music and there was Tuku.
A great supporter of Chimanimani Arts Festival, Tuku was not among the artists billed exactly to perform. He travelled accompanying Ay Band his late son Sam’s band that was performing officially at the festival. Tuku was only a guest and true to his support he did not disappoint those in search of the drumbeat - ‘kwarira ngoma’. He took his guitar and after watching other acts went on stage and performed a couple of songs with Ay Band in solidarity with Chimanimani – a ‘village’ entirely forgotten by the arts except only when the festival roars into life mid-year, thanks to the kind support of embassies, arts and culture bodies and the corporate companies.

Tuku has dedicated most of his time this year to the forgotten venues away from the cities and towns and Chimanimani reinforced his connection with the countryside posse. The previous night of his Chimanimani visit Tuku had performed in Marange rural communities fulfilling his desire this year to take some of his live performances to the countryside. Just last month he was in the rural districts of Domboshava at the legendary Mverechena Hotel, a venue that hosted all of Zimbabwe’s music greats in the 1970s but had fallen on hard times over the years only to reemerge now with so much gusto.   – tukumusik.com

EMBRACING Chimanimani- Tuku at Chimanimani Arts Festival.

Young audiences at Chimanimani Arts Festival.

Amazing attention at Chimanimani Arts Festival.