HIFA 2009: Surprises, surprises

The hardest part about going to HIFA is figuring out which shows to attend and which art form is most likely to be value for money.
When it comes to picking which shows to attend, experience has taught me to make it a mixed bag — I always go for a few shows that I think I will love, add one or two I think I will hate and include another which I expect to be just okay.
Usually, after the festival I am glad I did this because an unwritten law ensures I end up enjoying a show previously classed under ‘hate’ and — often — I am disappointed by something I was sure I would love.
This year, the biggest surprise had to be the closing show — Roll Jordan Roll. A fellow journo has rightly described it as a big risk on HIFA’s part. Old Negro Spirituals have not been brought to large audiences in Zimbabwe, at least not in recent memory and this is exactly how HIFA decided to bring down the curtains this time around.
However, it may have been a calculated risk because religion is big in Zimbabwe and anything spiritual is bound to attract a decent audience.
Roll Jordan Roll celebrates the history of the Fisk Jubilee Singers — a group of freed slaves from Tennessee who became a national sensation during the 1870s, drawing vast crowds around the country and invitations to sing for Gladstone and the Royal Family — from the perspective of the singers themselves. Our own New Life church choir was on hand to help Abram Wilson & The Delta Blues Project deliver a moving performance.
Malaika — by far the biggest crowd puller of the festival — proved that HIFA is not the place for sticking to what you know. In the crowd murmurs                                            of “Where are their instruments?” and “Are they lip-synching?” could be heard. Tshidi and Bongani are a charismatic duo, but they could have done better this time around.
Swedish cowgirls Angela Wand, Rebecca Westholm and Nandi Vileika, aka Big Ass BBQ, had the crowd on the edge of their seats with their lasso acts, yodeling, six shooting, trick roping , line dancing and whip cracking, daredevil stunts and live music — the most pleasant surprise of the festival.
Locally, Willis Watafi’s performance impressed me the most and it looks like he has found his niche and intends to fill it.
All in all, HIFA once again pulled off an amazing event, but I could not help feeling that this year’s edition did not have the bite of past festivals.