Kazembe meets championship winners Probeatz

Kundai Marunya  Arts Correspondent
Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation yesterday met with the 10 medallists who represented Zimbabwe at the World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA) held in Hollywood, United States last week in appreciation of their achievements.

The finalists who harvested a total of 19 medals — five gold, eight silver and six bronze — were handed appreciation certificates courtesy of Zimbabwe Young Ambassadors, an organisation fosters youth participation in economic development.

Speaking at celebratory meeting held at Quality Hotel, Kazembe Kazembe said the artists comprising of three males and seven females well represented the country.

“I am proud to officially honour and present to the rest of the nation the ten youthful participants who proudly raised the Zimbabwean flag high during WCOPA in Hollywood, California,” he said.

The 10 artists were picked from different genres including dance, music, and dramatic comical among others.

The selection process was done under Zimbabwe Championship of Performing Arts (Zicopa).

The biggest winner was Mpiwa Gwindi who brought home two golds and two silvers in the vocal category with instruments.

Another big winner was Daniel Emmanuel Nxumalo who bagged a silver and two bronze as well as being semi-finalist in the scholarship for acting at the New York Academy and New York Conservatory for drama valued at twenty and thirty thousand dollars respectively.

“Zicopa is proving to be a working model that brings together artists, parents and sponsors.

“I am informed that Zicopa is to grow the number of participants to an average of 25 per year,” said Hon. Kazembe.

He also encouraged parents to support young artists as their future may be built on their talent.

“It is from these humble beginning in the family home that we need all to support so that we can together cultivate superstars of the kind of Oliver Mtukudzi, Danai Gurira and Arnold Chirisa,” he said.

Kazembe urged the corporates to join hands with government in appreciating WCOPA winners as a way to motivate future winners.

WCOPA is an international competition that brings the best in performance art from world over. This was the third time Zimbabwe has participated, every time bringing medals home.

Some of the early winners of the competition have grown to be celebrated artists among them Probeatz and Silent Nqo.

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