And the band played!

The other day a client of mine was looking for a band for her wedding so I gave her a few options to go and look at and one of them was Alexio, a Zimbabwean artist who is doing very well in the entertainment circles. I must confess sometimes I worry about our local artists because SOME bands do not take to heart issues like presentation, punctuality, etiquette you know, certain things that are supposed to be second nature but are not, apparently. So I was a bit skeptical about taking the rounds with my client lest I expose some of our faults as artists, but hey zvido zvake kunyanya (her needs first). So here we are, walking into the club and to my surprise, the artists on stage are all dressed in white, well-coordinated dance moves and the lighting also added to the effect as it just made them “shaina”! (If you know what I mean). The musical content was amazing and got us dancing in no time. He even had an amazing sound engineer who really impressed me with some of the effects that he put in to add colour to the vocals. So me being me I looked at the budget that my client had and then the quality of entertainment that I was watching and things did not add up. It’s amazing how the budget for entertainment for a wedding is sometimes so little and yet that is what makes or breaks a wedding, let alone any event. Have you ever had a function that you attend that is so boring, but the highlight is the entertainment. I mean imagine a wedding with no steps, no music, no band, no dancers, singers or whatever other forms of entertainment you can think off. That’s no wedding for me, because those are the sorts of things we look for because they entertain us! THAT IS THE EXPERIENCE, and like I always say, people value experiences more than anything else.

So why are we allocating small budgets to entertainment? Do we even realize the costs that get into being an entertainer? Rehearsal space, instruments, transport, sound and lighting, engineers, wardrobe, you name it. So my client made her decision, and after liaising with the manager of the band of her choice I presented the bill. Now the case is the client will always complain, but you have to know your product well enough to justify that cost to them. Its not that she did not have the money, but it’s just that people just devalue the entertainment industry and we get less than what we deserve. It is the responsibility of the event planner to educate so that your event is as glamorous as you wish it to be. If you want quality you have to be ready to pay for it. So for you to get the best returns for your event suppliers know your product and justify to the client how that service will Ignite your event from being just an event to being an experience.

Mafaro Mafaro chete!

Over the weekend a few of my friends went KwaMereki to relax and unwind. While I was there I could not get over the range of the caliber of people that were there. From business people, to the lame man, everyone just wanted to have a good time. There was even a family that was there that seemed to have brought an international guest, I guess so that they could experience real authentic Zimbabwean entertainment but it was packed and the commotion from every car playing their radio just adds to the excitement. Not forgetting the dust!

I have been kwaMereki over and over and the reality is that nothing ever changes. It’s the same old place, the same old venue, nothing new. The food is not any 5 star cuisine, but simply sadza, whatever meat you buy and what has been popularly termed “Mereki salad”. You bring your own music, you buy the food and drinks and even pay to get it done by Amai Sandy or someone else if she is not there. And the toilets…lets not even go there! This is all stuff that we can do at home in a cleaner environment, so what is all the fuss about kwa Mereki?

It’s the experience! The ability to see other people having fun; the ability to play your own music and not have some dj determine a play-list for you; the gearboxes and “zvikanganwahama” soaked in dripping fat, and the middle-men who buy drinks for you at double the price, oh not forgetting the young boys and their entertainment in the form of jokes, song and dance. That is how I would spend my Saturday afternoon any day! It’s all about the experience.

Events are special because they are an experience in someone’s life and they bring together people to share that experience with them. An event is a significant occurrence. Once you have this mindset, you can create events that will leave people always wanting more. People value experiences more than material things. We can lose objects and buy new ones, but experiences are life long and are hard to forget. So lets think outside the box and always create experiences that will leave your audiences marveled by your event!

The Wedding at Cana

I always picture what it would be like to be the wedding planner at the wedding at Cana where Jesus performed His first miracle and turned water into wine. Already that was the sign that more people than were expected attended the wedding. And what a relief it would have been to have a guest like Jesus there who would turn a bar limit from “2 drinks per person” to “unlimited!”

Weddings are always fun to plan when it’s the initial stages and all you have to deal with is the bride and the groom. All the drama comes when you get closer to the day and all of a sudden you have to deal with a “tete” who seems to have the upper hand in the whole situation and changes months of work and planning simply because she is the bride’s father’s sister! I suppose weddings are a good way to get the family to bond as everyone is allocated with tasks and some will have to work together to make sure that the event becomes a success. And what amazes me about Zim weddings is that people seem to ignore the fact that the invite is addressed to 2 people at most (usually), says RSVP, and No children.

Maybe we do not understand the purposes of these things on the invite so let me enlighten you to the best of my knowledge. The names on the invite are the names of the people that are actually invited to attend the wedding, (if I could, I would have people bring their invites and I.Ds to the wedding so that I verify that its them lol). Yes, we all want a share of the celebration, but the bride and groom have spoken and those are the people they want at their wedding so deal with it after the wedding if you are not invited! RSVP is an abbreviation of French origin which stands for repondez s’il vous plait which is commonly used at the end of invitations requesting a response as to whether you are attending or not. Now why is this done? Its simple, so that we know the number of people attending so that we can cater for them accordingly. Some weddings are spoilt because the bride and groom would have catered for their invited 300 guests, but lo and behold 500 turn up! Now whose fault is that???

And most importantly “ NO CHILDREN”. Oh those blessed children! Yes we love them but sometimes we have to love them enough to leave them at home. Do you know how much admin children have at a place where people are gathered? That means we have to keep them entertained to stop them from running up and down, pulling down the draping and causing a commotion where there is one already- their drunk parents! Personally, if I were invited to a wedding with my spouse, I would use that as an opportunity to rekindle our love as we celebrate other people’s union in love, so why bring the kids along??? We don’t have guests to turn water into wine so lets spare the bride and groom an extra bill and just go where we are invited!

The poor and famous

A friend of mine while holidaying in Zim from the UK could not believe his ears when after a show we attended at a local club , the esteemed artist, who we adored on stage, came and asked him for a lift home. Shock,Horror, but that’s the sad reality. To make matters worse, I open the News Day dated 18 February and see and article titled “Musician falls on hard times”, which talks about the “legendary lead guitarist” Handsome Mabhiza who confirmed that “we are struggling right now.” And yes I agree with him. Artists in Zimbabwe are struggling and I will add, if they are relying on their art alone. Now, Handsome Mabhiza is a veteran. He played with Southern Freeway which was fronted by Saxophonist par excellence Steve Dyer. If I ever played with Steve Dyer at any point in my life I would surely exploit that relationship to take me higher (I’m juss sayin’). Where did Mabhiza go wrong? We always have this conversation as we are driving back home after the acoustic night and its always interesting how we admire the cars of the patrons that come to watch us. Big contrast to the mode of transport taking us home! I have been lucky to have personal relationships with some of the more popular artists and I get to know their living conditions, which are not very amicable, or rather, not expected from people of their stature. Now again, where do we go wrong?
A fellow artist and friend highlighted to me the other day that we are not entirely to blame because our industry is not groomed to be a professional industry. Bankers are taken to school to learn how to be the best in their trade because someone decided that is a huge cash cow and so is the case with many other professions. Creatives go to school to perfect their skills and don’t really learn how to monetize their creativity. One can also ask, can you really put a price tag on creativity?
I look at international artists and admire how they create businesses around their art. Fragrances, clothing lines, recording studios, and the works, and it creates plenty of revenue streams for the artist. That is one way we can also sustain ourselves here in Zimbabwe. Maybe not to the level that these artists are, but we can start with practical solutions, like sharing skills and charging for it.
I also attended a seminar by Michael Kaiser, founder of the Kennedy Centre USA, which was held here in Harare on Arts Management and he spoke about an interesting cycle. First concentrate on the art and develop it and perfect it to make it “ sellable”. The thing that creates all the money is good art. Once you have the product, market it well. Then create the “family”, people that will follow you wherever you go and good marketing, with the perfected product will grow your family. The bigger your family, the more the money you will get. And then INVEST THAT MONEY BACK TO YOUR ART because that is what creates more money! What was illuminated to me during this seminar is that once we take our art seriously, it is very easy to get the money coming in.
Michael Kaiser highlighted that in a normal economy, it has been proven that for every $1 that a government invests in the arts, they get $7 back! So maybe Zim is not your typical economy, but even if you get $5 back its still a worthy investment. So why do we not get the investment we need? Is it because we do not have the correct business acumen to make it a thriving industry like other countries have managed to? Or are we too busy dwelling on the wrong aspects of our art and not realizing its full potential. I mean yesterday I saw a video on MTV Base with D’Banj and Snoop dog!!! Akomana! Nigeria is learning the ropes very fast and are getting somewhere with their arts industry.
Bottom line is that we are poor and famous and that needs to change ASAP! People value experiences more than tangible items and would most likely pay more for a good time! Who better to create those experiences than the artists? Lets get rich!!