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Ngoma Dzepasi celebrate after winning the the Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Festival on Saturday

Brenda Phiri Entertainment Reporter
Dance group Ngoma Dzapasi from Mashonaland East were the national winners of this year’s Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Festival held at Harare Gardens over the weekend.
The troupe that performed Mbende dance outshone the other nine provincial groups that were vying for the grand prize of US$4 000.
First runner-up was the Harare dance group Chitukutuku, who won US$3 000 while Simunye Arts from Matabeleland got US$2 000 for being the second runner-up.

Ngoma Dzapasi leader Togarepi Vambe said they were excited and were going to invest their money in various projects.
“We are very happy that finally we won because we last competed in the competition in 2010 when we were number 10 but this year we corrected our mistakes.

“We are going to use part of the money to start building our centre called Dzimwe RaGutu Multi-Purpose Culture Centre and the remainder will go towards the purchase of our public address system,” he said.

Delta Beverages marketing executive Stanley Muchenje said they were pleased with the turnout.
“We are happy because our event was successful and everything went according to the plan. We appreciate more our consumers for their love for the brand and for coming out in huge numbers. We will continue to support our arts sector,” he said.

The Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance Festival is a tripartite programme organised by the Zimbabwe National Traditional Dance Association and the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe and sponsored by Delta Beverages.

The festival, which turned 51 this year, is one of the longest running arts sponsorship programmes in the country. It has also helped unearth raw talent.