It is not every day that we see someone from Zimbabwe doing something that affects the whole world especially in the arts industry.
The need to put the Zimbabwean flag high pushed a couple of guys to create something big. These guys created what is known as the Musicians Worldwide Forum (Muwofo). It is a movement that is similar to the soccer world cup as this is where they got their concept.
This forum was formed last year by (names withdrawn, seriously?). This is Muwofo’s first year running. The music world cup is a competition of musicians from every corner of the globe who will be are competing for the big prize, the world cup.
When it started it had more than 1200 contestants from around the world and some were dropped along the way. It is open to any music genre and anyone in the music industry.
“Anyone was and is welcome to take part in the world cup, we advertise on the internet and people submitted their music to a panel of twenty three judges,” said Muwofo spokesperson, Ronald Sigauke.
“Our vision is to take upcoming local and African talent to the world,”
“It is the first thing of its kind in the world.”
The world cup has already progressed to the semi-finals which are currently running this year and the finals will be held next year in New York
The semi-finals are being hosted in Africa and the semi-finalists are touring the continent as it would be hosted in many countries.
Zimbabwe is being represented by Brian Nyahuma and Fadzai Chigariro who are number 2 and 3 respectively.
What is not so cool about this ‘World Cup’ is that no big name artists are participating. There is no one from any country worth mentioning and this kind of makes the audience lose interest in the world cup. Although Salif Keita is one of the judges and stakeholder, one cannot help having the feeling that this is something not worth mentioning.
But looking at the other side of the block, this is something great that comes from our own brothers and what all the organizers need is to keep their mind on their initiative.
Currently, the semi-finals have forty one artists and two of those are from Zimbabwe. The finals will be held in New York next year in November. The twenty three judges will be judging the competition and cannot release their names (seriously?).
“Muwofo is going to be bigger than the soccer world cup because everyone loves music and it is going to be big,” said Sigauke.
Log in to www.muwofo.com to vote for your favorite musician.
Let’s hope the next world cup will bring in more competition and excitement when bigger artists come in.
By Nyasha Jeche