Carpe Diem is a day event that spills into the night, centred around DJs and Decks, and giving artists a platform to express themselves in front of a very eager to party and have a good time audience, under the sunny skies of the beautiful and brazen sunshine city known as Harare and starry skies of the night time.
This was the 4th edition of the event, and needless to say it came to make up for lost time, and then some (Episode 3). I shall write this review from the perspective of someone who’s been to 3 out of 4 editions of this event, and more so as someone who for the first time in their life, wasn’t late and made it to see an event unfold from the time it started to the end, just a disclaimer in case I get braggadocios.
Ngoma neHosho events have managed to build themselves a good reputation when it comes to delivering high-end experiences as far as the music, energy and vibes is concerned. As a far as event organisation is concerned, it is not an easy feat to make an event happen, to move from a concept to reality, and to do it so exceptionally well. I for one think its important to show the behind the scenes of some of these processes – its almost an out of body experience.
For context this event took place during an extended jampacked weekend, there were events happening back to back and sharing bottom bunks in a two men cell. Some events even had to gracefully bow about and cancel a 3-day event after just one day due to a really low turnout. When one plans an event during a time where the climate is just ripe as was this weekend, basically bidding farewell to summer, and they pull it off with a good turnout and contented audience, they deserve a Grammy.
I arrived to Old Hararians Sports Club where the event was being held pretty early, around 10:30 because of the media accreditation process which was ending at 11, so in my mind I was running behind time so much that my indrive chauffer was advised by yours truly like “wangu”, the rest is history as I’m pretty sure you can guess how that sentence progressed just from the way it started. It was nice to see the venue before it got populated, almost cinematically surreal in a sense because you see it bare and have to imagine it at its peak potential, and then you actually see it progress and gradually meet what your imagination conjured up earlier in real time in what feels like a blurry blink of an eye.
It started promptly at 12 Noon with the opener DJ Taku Made The Beat, which goes to prove that African people are not to be painted by the same monolithic brush, time is actually a fact to other (African) people as opposed to being a suggestion. Shortly after Taku gave an opener to the day (with much encouragement from the MC/Host of the event who claimed he regards him as a brother), Sikhulile ensued and turned the notch up a little as expected before a certain pretty Gangsta hopped onto the scene and bullied the decks into suspension. The pretty gangsta did her thing and held it down on the decks that Tashinga had to come on and calm down things a little bit whilst still delivering a pacey performance, I’ve personally never attended Winehouse for reasons beyond my control but I’d imagine the set he played at Carpe Diem was just a tad notched up from Winehouse sets, subtle but present, like the sun setting and slowly descending into the clouds delivering what feels like a sunshine kiss. He provided the perfect landing pad for Kotwane Hikwa, a Bulawayo based DJ who, like the black version of P!nk came to get the party started, in daylight. He almost was on the same wavelength as the pretty Gangsta except he amped up the decibels and announced his arrival to the decks without so much as having to say anything. This episode, for me, was an introduction to a lot of the DJs on the roster, as prior to this they were just familiar names. However, on this day I became somewhat acquainted with the performers, they weren’t just names anymore as I ingested the vibes they exuded.
Needless to say, Kotwane stood out, and it wasn’t because of the libation that was slowly taking refuge in my body, but the man came to perform, and a performance is what we got. Following Kotwane was another two-man string of local DJs namely Nizhe DeSoul and T Bass. Folks, this beloved nation of ours is ripe with talented artists, and its quite sad that a good portion of those artists cannot afford the stages they deserve to share their endowments and talents as they ought to. Carpe delivered a strong line-up of local DJs who did not disappoint. Perhaps the showrunners need to dig a little deeper, right into the underground trenches of the city and the nation and bring out those hidden gems that we don’t know about so they can rock our worlds. Because lets be realistic, at some point, every baby learns to walk into toddlerhood and eventually grows into a fully grown human being. every creative project goes through certain phases as it grows and develops into itself beyond the phenotype and sometimes it means modifying the genetic code encoded into the lining of what we’re presented with and what we get to see.
The big acts in this episode consisted of De Mthuda, DJ Zinhle, and Enoo Napa, respectively. Off the bat, its undeniable that despite that this was the actual order, it appears to be jumbled and this was proven by people ambling out of the event after Zinhle performed despite that there was still a last act to follow. These acts delivered, but if im being honest, it wasn’t anything special. The one thing they had going for them is the fact that they’re the originators of the sound that the event is built on, so even if they come and deliver a mid performance, they have the authenticity factor going for them, and also, they’re already big, well-known and popular DJs and performers across the continent, the biggest thing they have going for them is their name. These artists possess star power and a skillset sufficient enough to fill up the place, but are they really delivering anything extraordinary or special in their sets? Considering that they are the originators of South African Dance music currently popularly known as amapiano, a wave that was contagious enough to draw the eyes and perk up the ears of people all over the globe and not only inspire but push forward the movement of African inspired music, what boundaries are they pushing to make space for something new and fresh. What steps are being taken to grow this toddler into a fully fledged grown adult? Apart from starpower and decent transition and blending skills, what else was brought to the table by our beloved headliners to this episode?
Needless to say, despite this deep reflection I’ve been forced to have as I penned this article going through the motions of the paragraphs, channelling my observations into a critical and analytical train of thought, I was on my feet and danced through the whole damn event. But its important to keep in mind that every artform or branch of art needs to ground itself in something that’s not only authentic but bigger than the founders, the participants and the audience to achieve not only growth but longevity. If this course is not changed to push the boundaries of African music, in this case Amapiano house music, and we keep circling the same block, we will never buy the whole damn neighbourhood, gentrification will come and this old block will serve as the foundation of something that we might not even be able to recognise without a microscope. Starpower is like money, it gains value the more it circulates, but if it only circulates in old patterns and never makes it out to generate further investment and becomes a dead currency, what good is it to be a has-been that never really pushed the culture forward?
