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Tawanda Marwizi Arts Correspondent
Dancehall gigs have been marred by violence and hate speech with several people getting injured at some of the shows.

Promoters and other established artistes have on several occasions called for an end to the culture of violence within the genre.

Though cases violence have declined after strong cautions from the police, the artistes have been put to task to prove their willingness to encourage their fans to stop violence.

On Saturday several dancehall artistes unite for a show dubbed “Together As One” that will be held at the Aquatic Complex in Chitungwiza to denounce violence at their shows.

The artistes will be expected to preach peace and urge their fans to shun violence.

Winky D, Killer T, Kinna, Dadza D, Templeman, Lady Squanda, Terminator and Mockery are among other artistes billed to perform at the show.

Winky D’s manager, Jonathan Banda, said the artistes must be actively involved in the campaign against violence.

“The task is not about the artistes only but the organisers, the media and all stakeholders of the genre to work together so that we put an end to that culture,” he said.

Banda said shows are good platforms for artistes to encourage unity among fans.

Kinna, who has been calling for peace through his music, said he was happy with the progress that has been made so far.

“We have a number of gigs that were held end of last year and from what I have observed things are changing,” he said.

He said the campaign should continue with different rivals taking part.

“Those so-called rivals should come together for such important gigs and preach peace among artistes and fans,” he said.

Organisers of the event said they have been calling for unity among dancehall artistes and they were hopeful that the show will be successful.

“We have decided to start with few artistes so that they can set the trend and for our next mega gig when we will host most of them and encourage them to show preach peace,” he said.