COMMENT: Let’s celebrate our living heroes while we can

ALL roads would have led to Bulawayo next week were it not for the Covid-19 pandemic that has disrupted our way of life. However, life has to go on and measures are being put in place in all sectors to ensure that we restore much of what the pandemic has stolen from us.

The Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards’ fourth edition will be held at the weekend with artistes already waiting with bated breath for the announcement of the winners. Artistes take us through a series of emotional journeys that encapsulate the lived realities of their audiences and the past year has been no exception.

When we are in a joyful mood, drama, music and the like add colour to our mood and when we are down the same and even other forms of art soothe and restore our emotional balance showing that the arts are for all seasons, hence a part of life for all. It is the story telling in all its various forms that the Bulawayo Arts Awards seeks to celebrate through honouring artists from different sectors that hail from Bulawayo and its surroundings.

We have always applauded any move that seeks to build, encourage, motivate, celebrate and honour talent that not only helps put food on the table for families but also puts the region in particular and the nation at large on the international map. This year the celebration comes at a time that the nation has lost a number of young artistes, among them Cal_Vin, Iyasa’s Sibonisiwe Sithole and even recently, Gringo.

There are many more that we may not have known or appreciated that lost not only their income due to Covid-19, but also their lives during the year. May their souls rest in peace. Even under this pall of grief, we still need to pick ourselves up and encourage even our encouragers by honouring their work while they still live.

This is one aspect of the awards that we subscribe to; celebrating our living heroes. There is so much that we can pride ourselves in that is produced by our artistes, products that need not be woven into eulogies that the artistes would not hear in their final journey as they lie prostrate.

They deserve their flowers while they can still smell them.

We would also like to applaud sponsors that have seen it fit to stick with the arts sector in spite of the difficult economic circumstances worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, not to mention water problems bedevilling the city of Bulawayo.

While the awards will be held on 28 November, though under a different set-up in compliance with the Covid-19 prevention regulations, we urge the organisers and artistes not to allow the pandemic to dampen their spirits and sway the ceremony from its original intent, or spirit. May the best artistes win!

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