‘Tokwe Mukosi’ musical show ready for Bots fest

A theatre production "Tokwe Mukosi Musical" which premièred in February is set to take part in the Maiti Songs Festival in Botswana next week.
The festival will run for a week from April 21 to April 27. In an interview with The Herald Entertainment, the producer of the play, Peter Churu, said the team is geared for their debut performance at the festival.

"All I can say is we are good and ready for the festival, we are looking forward to a great show.  We have done everything necessary, rehearsals and had a number of shows at the Book Café last week and now we are just waiting for the big day," he said.

The production brings together professional musicians and dancers as well as theatre arts students from the University of Zimbabwe.

Churu said the initiative which seeks to remind Zimbabweans of the suffering of the victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi flood disaster is likely to also make an impact on people in Botswana.

"The theatre production is basically a call for Zimbabweans to do something about the Tokwe-Mukosi victims and we are optimistic that when we perform it in Botswana it will leave a mark since it is a real life story," he said.

He said the production is meant to reach out to everyone.

"I am sure artistes came up with songs after the incident so we feel that there is need to add a theatre production conveying the same message across Africa so that we reach out to almost everyone," he said.

The musical is also set to take part in this year's edition of the Harare International Festival of the Arts and another festival in Zambia.

Some of the musicians who are part of the production are Kessia Magosha, Jah Prayzah's former backing vocalist Evidence Kufinya aka Generator and upcoming musician Liberty Matole.

The Tokwe-Mukosi floods disaster occurred in February 2014 after torrential rains pounded the Masvingo area.

The flooding which caused the partial collapse of the Tokwe-Mukosi dam, rendered over 1 500 families homeless.