Sister Chi, as she is affectionately known, is one of the prominent female mbira musicians whose work knows no boundaries. She is the first Zimbabwean female singer to be nominated at the KORA music awards and has amassed several international music accolades.
But despite her international musical legacy, Chiwoniso is yet to be honoured in Zimbabwe, although many credit her with “profound work in the local music industry”.
Moyo justified the arts mother board position regarding Chiwoniso’s honorary award saga ahead of the National Arts Merit Awards scheduled for February 14 next year.
He said people should not say NAMA should honour Chiwoniso just because she received awards outside and questioned the authenticity of the accolades bestowed abroad.
“For people to make judgements on the awards Chiwoniso received outside is unjust. How many people have tracked to see the credibility of those awards? How many have followed such awards to see whether they are recognised in those countries?” queried Moyo.
“I always say let’s not use that as a basis for us to award people. The quality of art in this country is very high. That’s why when she goes abroad, she gets recognised. But also does it mean that her products are more artistic than Dudu (Manhenga’s). It’s only that Dudu did not get the same exposure that she has,” he said.
He also questioned her nationality saying: “Nama only awards Zimbabweans and is Chiwoniso a Zimbabwean? Why do people want to be Zimbabwean when they want and American when they deem necessary? We are a statutory board and we subscribe to the statutes,” he said.
Moyo urged artists to desist from becoming cry-babies and advocate for the growth and promotion of the arts industry.
“As artists we cannot win by lamenting. How many of our artists attended the Copac meetings? Very few if any. They think it doesn’t matter they are super citizens”.
“They expect people to just sit and think for them and when the draft constitution came out they started complaining. Let’s not join the band wagon of complaining and advocate for the development of our industry,” he said.
Post published in: Entertainment