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A scene from the musical “Tokwe-Mukosi”

Sophia Chese Arts Correspondent
Musical production “Tokwe-Mukosi” will today be staged at the Book Cafe to ignite its ‘Harare Run’ scheduled for three days at the venue. In an interview with The Herald Entertainment producer of the musical Peter Churu said they decided to have some performances in Harare before their debut appearance at a festival in Botswana at the end of this month.

“We are going to be performing for the Maiti Songs festival in Botswana from April 21 to 27, so we have decided to hold some shows in Harare in preparation for the festival hence we secured three shows at the Book Café starting from Thursday (tonight) to Saturday,” 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 seeks to remind Zimbabweans of the suffering of the victims of the Tokwe-Mukosi flood disaster.

“It is a call for Zimbabweans to do something about the victims because it is a year now since the disaster but those people are still living in Chingwizi. We must not forget them but find solutions to their problems,” 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 so that we reach out to almost everyone,” he said.

“People must come in their numbers and watch this play because it is different from any other play since this one is a real life story about our own people. We have to see how we can build a secure environment for the victims of the disaster,” 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 rainfall pounded the Masvingo area.

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