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Dreamstar artistes and officials before their departure

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Arts Reporter—
Relations between China and Zimbabwe continue to grow in all spheres and the arts sector is the latest in the line as evidenced by the invitation of 26 Zimbabwean artistes to participate in arts and cultural festivals to be held in China for the next two weeks. The 26 artistes – musicians and dancers as well as contestants drawn from the Dreamstar Team talent showcase – will be touring and performing in three Chinese cities.

They will be in Beijing, Chengeu and Pianjin courtesy of the Chinese Federation of Zimbabwe in conjunction with the Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation. They left the country on Tuesday and will be back on September 20.

Steven Zhao, who is the deputy president of the Chinese Federation of Zimbabwe, said the tour accorded the Zimbabwean artistes a chance to rub shoulders not only with their Chinese counterparts but also various others drawn from 50 countries around the world who will be taking part during the event.

“They are going to take part in festivities to be held in three cities in China and one of them is the non-natural heritage festival as well as cultural exchange programmes, tours and meeting artistes in China,” he said. Contemporary musician Leonard Mapfumo, who is part of the tour, said he was happy that the artistes were going to learn from their compatriots from various parts of the world.

“This is going to be a learning process for us as Dreamstar Team since we are going to a country that is known as one of the giants in modern civilisation in various sectors that include technology as well as the arts.

“The fact that we are also going to rub shoulders with artistes drawn from 50 other countries means that this will be a platform for our artistes to derive something new from their counterparts,” said Mapfumo. His words were echoed by Enoch Butau, one of the officials from Dreamstar Team, who said this was a chance for Zimbabwe to raise its flag high.

“We selected artistes we thought were the best representatives of the country out of the Dreamstar Team contestants and by pooling them into one team, they are no longer competing among themselves but are actually representing Zimbabwe,” he said.