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.

As Trevor Noah says “Keep it here, keep it here….”

I was with a cousin of mine yesterday; she is married with um 4 kids?  She was telling me that she had an epiphany a week earlier where she was wondering ‘who she is?’ she had lost her identity through being a mother and neglected all that she knew as her. This got me thinking of a well-known saying that reads ‘am I my brothers keeper?’

Men, we are not just our wives husbands, we are their keepers. 

It is no new thing that women put their all into relationships, they tend to hold nothing back and this is no more evidenced than in a relationship between a mother and her child. Though unintentional this is often done to their own detriment but only because their greatest support is often quite un-supporting. I propose a change to the order, a revision of the way we do things men.
YOU are your wife’s keeper.

We can not (and must not) ever get in the way of a woman expressing her affections, in fact we must help it along as often as possible, that is a blessing of their nature; however we must learn to guard her and protect her when she is unable to do it for herself (an act women are all too familiar with doing for men).  If you allow your woman to get so absorbed in the WORK (and yes it is A LOT of work) of nurturing and being a mother we run the risk of loosing our wife’s or rather allowing them to loose themselves.

Men complain that ‘my wife just changed after the kids’ or ‘she just forgot how to be sexy’ or worse still ‘ I don’t know where the woman I fell in love with went’. Men these are just silly excuses! How could she have avoided ‘leaving’ when you let her go?  I think if you were to take a poll you would find less men complaining that they ‘do not know who they are’ after years of marriage and kids than you would women, I for one have not heard that statement from Zimbabwean men. I deduced that this is because those men still get to go golfing with their buddies, they can hang at the bar, they can get lost in Sunday afternoon movies, they even get to pursue their very fulfilling career goals unabated. Look at their wives…. Whilst he watches TV she cleans the house, makes dinner and washes the dishes. While he is out golfing she is doing groceries, managing family conflicts, and looking for someone to sow up the damaged old school uniforms. While he pursues his career she looks for medical aid options for the family, tries to get all the kids in church to make sure they grow up socially acceptable human beings and attends all the school meetings, fun days, and parent-teacher conferences, all whilst also maintaining a 8-5 job.  It seems to me that in a traditional Zimbabwean marriage the men get to retain their identity and the women are required to loose theirs just because they are better at the relationship and nurturing stuff. Men, let us change this.

As I said earlier YOU are your wife’s keeper.  If she is getting so wrapped up in being mum and seems to be forgetting how to be Mrs. tell her to stop (lovingly of course), then do something about it. YOU take the kids for a bit so she can have that elusive moment to herself. YOU wash those dishes and give her a chance to read that book she’s been wanting to read or watch that episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta that she keeps missing. YOU pick up the kids from school and let her attend a zumba class or just go for a coffee with her friends who she never has time for. YOU check the kids homework and read with them so she has a couple of minutes to unwind from the day – that privilege she regularly gives you.  And men don’t stop there, don’t just fill in gaps or act like a substitute teacher, she married you because you were her hero so ACT LIKE IT and go the extra mile! Tape her favorite show on the PVR so she can watch it when she has a moment; get home early and cook (or get the maid to, heck get take out if you must) and give her a foot rub when she gets home – you have no idea how it is managing all the stuff she does in heels! Send the kids to a cousin’s place on the weekend and GO somewhere with your wife.

If you just act like you thought you would when you weren’t yet married, your wife will act better than she ever expected she would in your marriage. 

Letting your wife lose her identity is you abdicating your role as a husband, Christ has dedicated himself to helping you find your identity and from it you gain life and life in its abundance. That’s the example guys. Yes it’s hard I know, but tough stuff is why YOU are a MAN! You want to drive your ‘Built Tough’ Ford double cab but you don’t want to BE tough!?! You are better than that.
I am not married or even engaged so some of you may be thinking what right do I have to say these things to married men. Well maybe I have no right, but I’ll say this, I hope my friends and men around me wont wait to get a right to tell me things that matter when I am married and have kids, I expect those men around me to not slack and allow me to do anything other than the vows I made to the woman I married.  All I ask is that you think about what I have said men, and if it rings true in your spirit put action to it!

Fresh Start

Ok so here we go.  This is a whole new year and a whole new season, as such I am totally changing the nature of this blog.  I think a lot, I see a lot and I here a lot that causes me to think a lot, then see a lot and on it infinitum.  This is where I will share those thoughts and hopefully inspire some thought in you too.  So, on with the fun!

The Commissioned

Clockwork Ninja
A brilliant project I worked on for a UK Client. It was fantastic working with Dan C, I look forward to the comic Clockwork Ninja will be featuring in.

Eyes Don't See

Every Now and then you get to work on a project that's quite interesting. Tendayi Nyeke, a brilliant playwrite, approache MakAnimation to do the poster/flyer for her new play 'Eye's Don't See' along with a short animated promo for it.  This was quite fun and allowed us to break out from the normal a bit. Big up to Kudzai Gonde who did the initial layout and came up with a fantastic look and feel. I'm really enjoying working in a team.

Variations

Hey there. So I figured it'd be good to show some of the work that lead up to the Chocolate Orange logo I uploaded earlier, above  are some of the other logos and directions I was taking.

Logoing

Right, here is yet another logo design, I quite enjoyed doing this one. A lot of ideas came during the development phase, this is the one the client chose but I'm still to do one or two tweaks.