A Dream With a Message (HIFA Opening Concert)

The king who loved music

Entitled Dreamland, The HIFA Opening Concert, took the thousands of people who came to watch it through a message-laden journey of dance and song.

Dudu Manhenga and dancer

^ Dreamland: Pyjama clad dancers and singers took the audience through the highlghts of familiar journey. In the bacground, Dudu Manhenga

But it wasn’t a journey they hadn’t been on before. It was a reminder of their dreams and aspirations as Zimbabweans. A satirical portrayal of the Zimbabwean situation. The beauty of art though, is that it can be interpreted in so many ways.

Prudence performs Zombie

^ I have never seen a more powerful performance by Prudence. Her rendition of “Zombie” was heartrending

The show featured Zimbabwe’s three top Divas, Dudu Manhenga, Prudence Katomeni and Chiwoniso Maraire. The most powerful performance was Prudence’s rendition of “Zombie” by the Cranberries.

Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it’s not me, it’s not my family.
In your head, in your head they are fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are crying…

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie,
Hey, hey, hey. What’s in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, dou, dou, dou, dou, dou…

Another mother’s breakin’,
Heart is taking over.
When the vi’lence causes silence,
We must be mistaken.

It’s the same old theme since nineteen-eighty.
In your head, in your head they’re still fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are dying…

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie,
Hey, hey, hey. What’s in your head,
In your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie?
Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh,
Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey, oh, ya, ya-a…

Notice where she says “ It’s the same old theme since nineteen-eighty.” In the original song it was “It’s the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen.”

Chiwoniso & Mbira

^ The show ended with a song by Chiwoniso surrounded by children- the hope of this dreamland

The show told the story of a King (that’s the big ugly red dude) from a far away land who loved music and would spend his days immersed in it. Then one day he sent his soldiers around the country to collect all the songs in the land for himself.

The soldiers took the songs