Written by Fred Farai Nyakudanga FFF
The Arts industry now named the Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) includes music, film, theatre, visual art and literary art. This is a sector that is stocked up with hallmarks that promotes and imprint character of all the other industries and the country itself. Though all sectors interlink art has an unambiguous and a beautifying role they play. Zimbabwe with all it's sophisticated terrains, caves, agriculture, mineral endowment the liberation struggle experiences, it's conspicuous by a 1.2 meter Zimbabwean flag. The design itself narrates straight from the shoulder. While the national anthem mellifluously and succinctly sum up the Zimbabwean ambitions.
Before I forget let me just stress once again, two more examples that will unfold how art compact or avoid monotonous announcements. The signature tune that was recorded for the news bulletin buy the late Douglas Vambe is a good example of how it uncomplicated announcing its News time. The time you hear the drum beat you decide to draw near the radio and listen or otherwise. The second one is a song by Mathias Xavier Tormented soul each time this song is played on our national radios and ZTV you will know either Heroes Holidays have drawn nearer or our country has lost a national hero. The song hasn't got any words but the vocal is suggestive its a sorrowful song.
This is what art does, it makes the ambiguous univocal its special for that. Because of the cultural and creative duty art play, I have become thorny over the industry’s formation. Especially looking at empowerment and reducing poverty in our country. Its easy for our people to work in areas they are competent enough, so developing a strong commercial system to tap enough would be the most noble thing our society and government should work on. But this is almost the opposite in the CCI sector where it's a jungle.
Some are directing the problem to artists themselves saying that they are not united. Successful artists though they are a few seize to worry about the sector anymore than the aspiring ones. All they will pursue is their own advancement because they can now attract resources on their own. The other blame goes to technology for discouraging investors since music sales are now scarce. Music is freely shared on WhatsApp and YouTube download make it easy for music lovers to enjoy music without visiting a music shop. The other discussions point at piracy that the few music fans who still want to buy CDs help themselves in streets where the music is available and cheap.
Let me share my own observation of the attitude of our society that exerts some pressure in the whole system. The delivery of art is through performance and many other chucklesome forms. By so doing it is taken as trifling. The local society with these thoughts is the one that is supposed to invest either through public or private funds. Our independence set this spirit, this is what we were really fighting for.
The core values employed in Arts are discovery, discipline, training, performance and virtuosity. It amounts to a lot of effort that traces back to childhood principles. So a top performance is not what we see on the actual day of the concert. It is an attachment of the values I mentioned above. The beauty of art or music replicate nature that people find it quotidian because it will appear seamless from natural societal occurring. So the creative sophistication is not quickly evaluated.
A lot of people when they want to tease their work mates to be serious with work. They jokingly refer them to behaving like Macheso whose dancing on his performances they find facetious. Oliver Mtukudzi captured this in his song Shanda. He sang.
“You goggle at me and you ignorantly conjecture it's just play”.
He struggled to explain that he will be working like any other person in various trades. I experienced this in 2007 when I tried my hand into Arts Administration diversifying from my clothing business. My family looked at me with all sorts of eyes trying to discourage me from venturing into the CCI sector. I got recognition from National Arts Council as I was appointed to the Harare Province Advisory Committee. They realised my value yet I lost my family’s trust in the process. People do not see art as a serious career.
The artists themselves do not have trust over value addition costs. There is a cat and mouse relationship between Artists their managers and Promoters. So the efforts needed to direct their creations to the market will become suspicious. During the 90s many musicians had started quitting their contracts with Gramma, ZMC and RTP. Thomas Mapfumo, Simon Chimbetu, Oliver Mtukudzi, Macheso are some of the artists who walked away over issues of lack of transparency and meagre share of sales. Those who failed to terminate their contracts always complained that they were being short-changed.
On the other hand Gramma, ZMC and RTP kind of maintained a monopoly, because they knew the capital intensity involved to challenge them. Artists who wanted to record new beats found it very difficult to get contracts hence it was difficult to penetrate the market. Gramma had an upper hand on the few radio stations and the one TV channel that still exists. So musicians created other avenues of recording and this brought about the backroom and bedroom studios that have not yet been formalized yet. In the initial it was beneficial to be pirated because the musician would be known without following the formal media and retail channels. The relationship between Gramma and musicians fuelled piracy because musicians had found a way of getting to the market.
The excitement was short-lived piracy became an industry within an industry. Pirates found it cheaper to buy a single CD from an artist then duplicate several others to the market for a cheaper price.
The commerce system has a clear design with distribution channels chained together. It is prevalent in each and every sector of our economy. Before a business is formalised it starts from the informal running into small and medium scale. The sell of goods goes from manufacturer, wholesalers then retailer. A small horticulture farmer can afford to sell some few tomatoes to his neighbours without engaging a wholesaler. But as his produce grow the neighbours demand will be surpassed. The farmer will need a bigger market to supply his produce. Companies like Favco of Ariston Holdings have created markets which they need to satisfy. They source 70% of produce directly from Ariston Farms. The other 30% is contribution from various farmers. So their speciality is marketing which is an important value addition role. The farmer will benefit from Favco’s expertise and high demanding market.
Produce can be available in huge quantities but if supply surpasses demand some products are perishable and this will cause losses and reduction of sustainable prices. The marketing experts will estimate demand at each and every season. It is the same with the tobacco industry, TIMB is responsible with marketing of the Zimbabwean tobacco. They do projections of how much of the golden leaf can our farmers produce. They also prospect demand locally and in countries that buy our crop. My peasant father farming in Headlands can't be connected to locate a buyer in the middle of Gansu Province of China for his 30 bales.
We had Gramma Records together with RTP who were playing this role of value addition to Zimbabwean musicians very well. They identified need of music and in the late 70s Teal Records from SA later on became Gramma. The need then becomes the market which they sought musicians for. They recorded musicians through full contract, and third parties. The full contract meant that the artist would not need to meet the expenses of recording, marketing and distribution. Third party was partially distribution costs.
While I was an administrator for Savannah Arts Centre I had a privilege to work with Gramma/ZMC. We recorded a third party album at Shed Studios in 2007 (Marimba I Ngoma. We then agreed to pay for production of our CDs and Cassettes for ZMC to do our distribution and marketing. Our music rot in the shelves due to the fact that we had recorded without any market research. Its was a pure Marimba production that we did out of our abilities. No record bars even tried to sell it. We ended up taking the CDs so that we could sell on our own. How many marimba collectors could we link up from the streets of Mbare. How would they have known we had a new release while in Mbare there.
For full time contracts even new comers Njerama Boys did not find it difficult to make a name. It was on their 2nd album Zviripachena they made good sales, Paradzai Messi admitted he could afford to buy a car, commuter omnibus and PA (Pindula Search). I allot this to the functions that the two entities played. Gramma through marketing experience and knowledge knew very well where to take Njerama's music. Their producers knew how to make the songs sought in the market. It was a job they had done over and over since Gramma's inception in the 70s. Very popular Producers I knew are the late Tymon Mabaleka, Bothwell Nyamhondera, Jabulani Ndlovu and a host of others. Their productions were market driven and I understand they determined a lot to suit the market.
I was a very big spender of music when cassettes and CDs were still being sold in retail shops. I liked Spin Along Barbours and George Silundika. You would walk in to a well merchandised shop, with shelves properly labelled Jazz, gospel, local music, new releases and international music. The new release section attracted the best of the salesman. I would go home with 4 or 5 CDs to enjoy in my car. This was early 2000s when Oliver Mtukudzi was hot. On the new releases section is where I found Njerama Boys. I never knew them but their compositions touched me. I got reminded about my rural area and the way we used to go and have funny at the nearby township. Njerama sang the same genre (Sungura) with the music we used to dance away during Christmas festives.
So the music had a market and had some attachment to a lot of people especially those who were raised by peasant farmers. The struggles of raising school fees and trying to match the urban trends in clothing and and decent shelter made them enjoy the messages that became a gospel. Sungura music was mostly about the way people tried to cope with modernisation within scarcity of resources and opportunities.
So any musician who would listen to the producers and was good too would be successful. Gramma would connect musicians to the radio, media and advertisers. Every chain played its part in adding value to the musician’s work. It became ideal to pass on the baton to the next chain because of trust and professionalism that existed. From inception though there was a missing player. The Rhodesian government would have never cared to protect local artists while they enjoyed foreign Art and Music. The natural resources of our country could have been enough to earn them foreign currency because they were a minority. So the CCI sector would have not been a consideration.
During the stint of private investment of Gramma musicians benefited. The whole value chain entities negotiated for their interests to cover costs and sustain themselves. Every Saturday Gramma would have a sponsored programme with Lazurus Tembo on Radio. Dzichangoburwa Neve Gramma. This advertised new releases the radio station benefitted. The music attracted a handsome listenership making advertising space dear. Many musicians were on top John Chibadura, Marshall Munhumumwe, Cephas Mashakada, Khiama Boys, Simon Chimbetu, Leonard Dembo and many others. It was a galaxy of stars. These musicians concentrated on their music without worry about recording and airplay on radio. On the club circuit there was a network of council bars where the working males met over weekends. Rufaro Marketing was very instrumental in the promotion of local music as they demanded entertainment for imbibers. The notorious Vito is common for full houses.
Airplay also attracted sustainable royalties which Zimura was established upon to collect the money on behalf of composers. The whole value chain played a part. Distribution delivered up to record bars in the locations. A new release would find its way to all the towns of our country. The emergency of flea markets helped in distribution of music.
Gramma, ZMC and RTP have all gone under and some lame excuses are given that technology and piracy have made it difficult to make music sales. Musicians; successful, upcoming and trialists have all become vulnerable. There aren't any meaningful music sales. The value chain has become tattered and all the societal perceptions on artists I raised above are reigning. Artists are poor, but while they are talented. Initially the investments were private unlike other sectors that have both public and private investment. I was just checking on livestock a sector of agriculture. The government through the responsible minister promulgated a levy Statutory Instrument Of 2017. My interest went direct to the uses of the levy on Part 5. The fund is there to make sure prevention of diseases, research, grading transparency measures, orderly marketing and investment of infrastructure is not the burden of the farmers only but a collective effort of all stakeholders.
The society is continuing to demand art or music while the artists and musicians perpetuate on their passion of making music. Unregistered studios have sprouted you can now record in the comfort of your bedroom. All recording studios in Zimbabwe operate without any regulations, even if they would want to conform to any trade statutes which sectorial body would the have to register to. National Arts Council registers Associations, Trusts and Promoters. Without a reliable and professional intermediary between the society and the musicians it becomes very costly to the musicians.
I went through the National Arts Council Act Chapter 25 : 07. My concern was established further. There isn't any section or part that talks about commercializing art at all. It touches on development which is very homogenous if it is not directed to commerce. I am keen to learn more on which act regulates the activities of art production and its marketing. Art is a business and if our legislation is silent on that then the current status quo is a national disaster that needs to be declared imminently. Without regulation there won't be any protection even if we develop art beyond. Artists will remain poor.
Public investment usually is a brooder to vulnerable industries. The CCI still needs public investment as a way to protect it to grow. As I look back at the attitude of the Rhodesian government, it suggests that they left the sector out so that the majority of natives would not benefit from the industry. Music was part of our culture and they did not have to teach the natives anything so I suspect they suffocated the industry so that the black Zimbabweans would not make money since they expected them to work for their companies. Art practitioners are their own bosses and long back then labour was required for multinational companies. Now that we are independent I am very sure we have not taken time to let the authorities understand that CCI is a multimillion money spinner that the government must consider seriously.
It is very cheap to raise an artist who can fill up venues in Africa. A few days ago I was playing a video of the late Pepe Kalle live in Abidjan. The venue was packed, and I guess some money exchanged hands. The host country benefited while the country where Pepe Kalle hails from also earned foreign currency. A Congolese company could have capitalised on the audience to gain penetration.
While our country pursues other products our art can penetrate markets in advance. Americans are very good at this, they distribute music, films beforehand so as to arouse interest of their products. Fashion, technology, food, motor vehicles are used within casts and music visuals so as to harbinger their coming. Buy so doing the whole system pays or invests in art so that it promotes the industries of their country. For promoting products both the public and private investment have interests that must develop the CCI.
Art and songs without a social and commercial appurtenance are a waste of resources hence they cost the artist. I have observed our Zimbabwean situation with pity. Our public investor is not pertinently advised looking at the wide sectors that surrounds. I have never been in Europe neither in America but I dress like them where have I seen this. In my dreams, its a lie. The effort that is made before marketing has never been a topic anywhere in the academia. In marketing we learnt about identifying a need. But our fellow globe citizens cultivate the needs and this is the role of Art, curriculums, religion and sport.
The two distinctive attributes of art of; making the complicated conspicuous, the hard work involved to bring out art need to motivate our ideas. These two elements of art must compel business, civic organisations and government to come together and develop products and mechanisms that enhance our country’ competitiveness.
The writter Fred Farai Nyakudanga aka FFF is an entertainment consultant who runs Finto Marketing a music entertainment consultancy. He worked as an entertainment manager for various and popular joints in Harare. Fred is a qualified Public Relations, and Marketing Practitioner.
fredfarai@gmail.com
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