I saw you IN a show at HIFA …. Yes you.

I found myself at HIFA this year, yes FOUND myself there. I’m not a big HIFA enthusiast as many of my friends know but I’m not adverse to the show either. It holds a reputation for being one of the best cultural extravaganza shows in Africa and also the world. HIFA draws acts from around the world bringing us a variegated taste of diverse cultures and views. We had everything from Opera to Ragga, from well known acts to new faces enveloping us in a kaleidoscopic jamboree of sounds and experiences. Having been there I am sure the reviews will rave about it, many already speak highly of brilliant acts from Tumi and The Volumes, Maria de Barros, Handsome Poets, Winky D and a melee of other brilliant artists and performers. Each act embraced the stage, be it a stall in the gallery or the main stage itself; they took hold of the audience and whisked them off on an ecstatic journey of discovery. Discovery of their world, discovery of their minds and discovery of themselves.
But…. There was one show everyone saw and missed at the same time. Yes we had our eyes fixed on the stage, mesmerized by the bright lights (best stage lighting I had seen in years by the way) and transfixed by every move or note the performers showered us with; yet somehow we missed the most bazaar show ever. Everyone missed it even though we were all in attendance, and if that wasn’t bad enough we were so close you could say we were right on stage with the performers. Ok ok, you’re wondering what show I’m talking about?
Let me fill in the gaps. I went to the Coka Cola green on Friday night and watched a brilliant DJ show, somehow I ended up participating in a shoot and I wound up carrying a video camera taking shots of performers and the crowd at large. It’s what I saw outside of that lens that surprised me. As I was right at the front, mere centimeters from the stage, I looked about me only to realize that I was the one on stage. There was a famous performance done oh so many years ago, long before Internet but not before introspective thought. It went like this: an audience would sit in a theater waiting for a play to start, the curtain would finally rise and they would be presented with a scene of another audience with their backs to them also looking ahead for a curtain to rise. That audience too would watch as their curtain rose only to be greeted by the same scene, and so this would go on infinitum. As one watched you would eventually start wondering if you are watching a show or you ARE the show.
The show we missed was the ‘Harare Show’. Yes that would be you and me; but it was bigger than that, it was the Zimbabwe Show and it was right there in front of us.

As I had my camera fixed on the stage waiting for anything of significance (from an editing viewpoint) to happen, it did. The DJ was playing a well-crafted mix of hip-hop, dancehall and dance hits that got the crowd on their feet. Popular dances infused with each person’s unique flavor started circulating amongst the 300 – 500 crowd gathered there. I believe it was Lil Wayne who was playing when a kid, no more than 8 years old emerged on stage. Judging from his appearance (and the fact that he was there) I assumed he was alone, probably a homeless kid. In an instant I had my camera up, ‘this should be good’ I thought ‘he’s going to unleash some cute moves’ great for TV. I zoomed in on my HD camera and focused in on every tiny expression on the kids face as he moved every limb in his body to the rhythm of the music as if he had spent a lifetime mastering this craft. Maybe that would have been ok if his lifetime hadn’t consisted of only 8 short years 3 of which he had spent learning to walk and speak coherently. The look on his face as he crumped is what triggered my concern; I pulled away from my view-finder for a moment wondering how I should respond to this. He looked angry. He looked vicious. He looked oppressed. He looked like anything but an 8 year old kid.
I know crumping; I know it’s a dance style come sub-culture of hip-hop. I’ve watched the videos, I ruminated over the documentaries and I’ve considered the argument for it. This kid was in character for the ‘art form’ he was performing. The beats pounded on with a captivating intensity (or maybe that was because I was right next to a speaker) and the kid’s dance style changed accordingly. Not being a fan of Lil Wayne I do not know most of his songs so whenever I hear them I listen to the lyrics first before I get too lost in the beat. This kid had it on lock just like the sea of adults who were watching him. As the songs changed and there was a lyrical call to ‘slap that’ or ‘do that’ ‘drink that’ be a ‘real nigga what’; this kid danced in synchrony with the precision of a dance surgeon, if ever there was such a thing. I had already turned my camera off and decided I would not record this. I could not be a part of spreading this … whatever this was. I looked around and right then I realized what was happening, just as those people in the play had awaked to the fact that they were the show.

In a crowd of 300 – 500 people: grown adults, teens, mums, fathers, elders, community leaders, activists, social commentators, peers, preachers and ambassadors; no one blinked. No one blinked as an 8 year old kid ‘slapped’ an imaginary woman’s backside, no one blinked as he grabbed is pre-pubesant crotch and gyrated it towards the crowd supposedly ‘hitting that’, no one so much as flinched as he pointed towards us indicating his superiority because of all the imaginary money he was ‘raining’ on us. I stood in silent shock, as Harare’s … no Zimbabwe’s depravity was played right before my eyes. The show I didn’t pay for … because I was in it.
He went on, move after move and we watched. Security did nothing, the performers did nothing, and the audience did nothing, actually scratch that in fact they DID do something they cheered it on. It is said that in Africa the community raise a child, so where were they?

Ok maybe I’m making assumptions here and nobody else thinks its wrong. Maybe you are saying ‘he is a kid and doesn’t know what he is doing and it will not affect him’. Stop being intentionally ignorant! There is no aspect of ones life that does not affect them however small it is. Years later we will all be wondering ‘what happened to cause this’ when we read an H-Metro story of some guy who was a womanizer and took it too far due to anger issues. Or some woman will be wondering why her boyfriend has a slapping fetish (heck maybe she’ll think its alright to be slapped around since TV insinuates that its common sexual behavior and every girl ‘wants’ it). Or some guys will be trying to talk some sense into their friend about how ‘doing anything to impress people’ is not the way and he wont listen because deep in his subconscious mind he remembers how 300 – 500 grown people LET him do whatever he wanted to please them.
The Harare Show, are we so morally depraved? Have we become a ‘kaleidoscopic jamboree of sounds and experiences’ in which we let anything go? As the boy performed some cash was thrown onto the stage ‘in appreciation’ of his performance. This is not uncommon in Zimbabwe but think on this, how many other shows had that happen? Did it happen at Winky D? Did it happen at Ismael Lo? Why did it happen for an 8-year-old kid doing the most sensual acts his frame could pull off? WE PAID HIM PEOPLE! AGH! Yes we… you didn’t stop them did you? Would you have?

The Harare Show is on Now! Showing everywhere from the 1st of May to the rest of your life! Come one come all and be part of the show! It’s FREE!!!………. at a cost.