By Wisdom Mumera
Zimdancehall has been a self-made guy with equal measures of talent and stupidity conveyed creatively as conscious artistic creations.
The organic yin yang nature of nonsense and acute wisdom encapsulated within its street lingo lyrics means many enjoy it with both revulsion and pornographic contentment.
In public you revile it but in your privacy its a fascinating island.
This has allowed the genre to outlive what could be passed for as sensible and logical genres.
In the medley of vulgarism and seemingly misplaced life-advice, the genre continues to fascinate and enthral both fans and haters.
It’s a lesson for the opposition-led Harare Council that, with creativity, not everyone has to like you to accommodate you.
Rise of Zimdancehall
The rise of Zimdancehall has been premised on the ashes of a smouldering formal music industry with most elements of the trade now informal and casual.
One can walk into a high density location studio in the morning and emerge an artist by tea time.
Thus, its a sector that has not been foundationed on the traditional and normal.
Caught in the same scenario where the normal levers of the economy are no longer functioning as required the winning Councillors have been lame ducks since assumption of power.
There has been an abject lack of creativity to chart new paths from which normalcy can be crafted.
Instead, the easy and comfortable path has been to lament about the macro-economic state.
Already, Economic Minister Mthuli Ncube has predicted that economic growth will fall to 3.5% in 2024 from 5.5% last year.
This is due to an El Nino induced drought.
Thus the future has enough arsenal for a weak Council to utilise in lamenting.
However, that will not stop the need for clean water, collected garbage, correct utility bills or order in the CBD.
Its time for the creative ingenuity of Zimdancehall.
Council and the various politicians who campaigned within this specific context promising change should simply fulfil their promises.
The current macro-economic situation isn’t novel to this year and thus isn’t a legitimate going cause to hide behind for the continued shoddy services.
Nothing is going to extravagantly change to allow for the normal situation which the councillors are pining for.
Instead, what is required are creative leaders with the ability to make the bad situation better.
The creaking capital, decrepit with both age and abuse, now requires ingenious thinkers who can salvage it from the looming doom.
As Zimdancehall will testify, normal lines won’t work.
