On 16 February 2009, MISA-Zimbabwe partnered UAN in launching the album
at the Mannenberg Arts Café in Harare marking the end of the recording
and production agonies experienced by the artists led by Biko
Mutsvaurwa.
UAN started working on the album in 2004 on a low cost budget. That
same year the computer software packed resulting in the loss of the
pre-production material. Undaunted, the artists started all over again
only to meet with a similar mishap in 2006. Despite these technical
drawbacks the album was eventually launched on16 February 2009 – almost
five years after the inception of the idea.Â
The album is a compilation of rich poetic commentaries reflecting the
shrinkage of democracy in present day Zimbabwe and the inherent
socio-economic and political traumas experienced by the youth.
Mutsvaurwa told guests at the launch ceremony that the album focuses on
dissenting voices clamouring for democratic space for the people of
Zimbabwe to freely express, associate, choose and assemble in line with
the provisions of the Bill of Rights.
The introductory poem narrates how tear gas canisters, live ammunition,
harassments, abductions, detentions and torture have suffocated the
citizens' right to freedom of expression. Mutsvaura vows that he will
not muffle his voice as it is the right of artists as social
commentators to keep the nation informed through music and poetry.
Tabani Moyo, MISA-Zimbabwe Advocacy Officer, said it was encouraging
that more and more artists were speaking out against travesties of
justice at a time when Jestina Mukoko, the director of the Zimbabwe
Peace Project and freelance photojournalist Shadreck Manyere remain
detained. Noting that the arts industry was fast becoming a critical
platform for conveying information to the people, he urged Zimbabweans
at large through various platforms to increase pressure on the
authorities to free the media space in Zimbabwe.
MISAÂ
Post published in: Music