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Iyasa

Lovemore Meya Arts Correspondent
An upsurge in cases of domestic violence, rocky marriages and divorces has been greatly attributed to the increase of activity on social networks. The network platforms that include, Whatsapp, Facebook, and Twitter have brought forms of interaction that have brought positive and negative repercussions.

As such, the evils brought about by these social networks have seen Bulawayo’s  great talents, celebrated dub poet Albert Nyathi and Iyasa dance group collaborating on a video.

The artistes will shoot a video for Iyasa’s track titled “Yinindaba” (why) that explores the negative impact of social networks.

Iyasa artistic director, Nkululeko Innocent Dube said working with Nyathi was an honour. “This is a tribute to Nyathi’s contribution to the formation of Iyasa group. We worked with Nyathi from the formative stages and we saw it fit to include him in the production,” he said.

Dube said they composed the song with an accompanying video set to be released early February highlighting the dangers of social networks.

“People are now abusing the social network and have adversely affected relationships and the marriage institution. “Instead of using it for important communication, Whatsapp has a tool to invite ‘small houses’ into our lives,” pointed Dube.

He said people in relationships and marriages are also facing communication breakdown since they will be busy on these networks.

Dube said the video is part of the group’s 12-track album titled “Africa Alive”, which was released during their visit to Europe in October last year.

“We released the album which was Eurocentric, but now we are doing it the African way. Out of the 12-tracks, we are going to do eight videos including the one we did with Nyathi,” he added.

Nyathi said working with Iyasa from its formative stages was the most satisfying and gratifying of all pre-occupations. “They were young and willing to learn as Nkululeko was still a young teacher with a vision and was also keen to learn. Now I am happy to have collaborated with them in the new work, which is almost like the students working with their teacher,” he said.

The two’s training programmes culminated in the talent search contest which took place at Mpopoma High School attracting other schools as far as the Midlands, Tsholotsho, Gwanda and Binga among others culminating in the formation of Iyasa. Dube was coordinating the show on behalf of Imbongi.