Harare carnival hits and misses

This year’s second edition of the Harare International Carnival painted intriguing picturesque scenery in the country’s largest city as various nations showcased mesmerising public parades. Harare City Centre was engulfed by melting pot of cultures that converged to celebrate cultural diversity in street parties and dance.

The Street Party arguably marked the climax of the cultural festival as business was brought to a halt in the central business district zone. From the African attires to the glittering skimpy Brazilian outfits complete with pounding drums and heartwarming percussions, the atmosphere was filled to the brim with food for the ears and eyes.

The Zim-dancehall Night further brought energy to the 10-day festival as the curtains came down to mark the end of the majestic Carnival. Other notable encounters were the Sungura Night where Chipinge based Jacob Moyana stole the show.  Not to be outdone was the Carnival Urban Fiesta, which stretched all the way to the action-stricken town of Norton.

This year’s Carnival has been hailed for managing to attract 23 countries’ up from the 14 which participated during the inauguration of the Harare International Carnival, last year. However, the event was not spared from glitches that sucked some luster out of the commendable effort from the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority, which organised the function.

The Carnival was characterised by abrupt cancellation of several events that were line-up, thereby dampening the promising event. Such can be said about the Carnival Tourism Night, Gospel Carnival Concert and Fashion Show. ZTA chief executive officer Karikoga Kaseke said they were forced to pull the plug on some of the shows in order to streamline events before he blamed some promoters of pulling out on the eleventh hour.

The ZTA boss went on to exonerate the tourism authority of the glitches that marred the Carnival arguing that they are still in an experimental phase. “We are still developing the Carnival concept and we are bound to make a lot of mistakes. What is important is to improve each year and every edition.

“No country can ever deliver a perfect Carnival including the pioneers who started the concept in the 1870s,” said Kaseke. Since the Carnival kicked-off in the capital on May 16, the fiesta has not been spared from shortcomings. Instead of taking the blame for cancellation of several events, ZTA used promoters who failed to deliver as their scapegoat. However, ZTA should take its own fair share of blame for engaging unprofessional promoters on events of such a magnitude.

Kaseke was however, quick to maintain that the glitches surrounding this year’s Carnival were a rude awakening that would enable them to integrate the inconsistencies in the long run. “The fundamental deduction from this unfortunate scenario is that in the future we will need to do diligence before appointing anyone to organise any event on our behalf. If we lack in this regard, we run risk of reversing the gains of the Carnival thereby retarding its branding equity,” he said.

ZTA must take notes from other festivals like the Harare International Festival of Arts (HIFA) that has arguably set the bar high on how national festivals should be conducted.

newsdesk@fingaz.co.zw