Brighton Zimidzi
Entertainment Reporter
Group Therapy is once again hosting the Amapiano Festival which will be held on the 29th of October 2022 at The Venue with The Twist in Killarney, Bulawayo.
The Festival was founded by Vuyisile Ndlovu, and the first edition was on the 19th of December 2021.
This time the festival is a breast cancer awareness edition under the name “Pinktober Edition”, since October is a breast cancer awareness month, an annual campaign to raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer.
Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in Zimbabwe. Patients face socioeconomic barriers to accessing oncology care, including radiotherapy. The full complement of specialised oncology services is available between the two largest cities,
Harare and Bulawayo. However, patients face social and economic difficulties in access to this essential health care, including significant delays and public systems are often stretched both financially and logistically.
“We created the Festival in order to give budding DJs on the local scene an extra boost and push. It is said that for all the talent that Bulawayo has, we neither nurture nor incubate it well, so the least we could do was provide a platform”, said Ndlovu, the events and entertainment managing director.
Amapiano is a style of house music that emerged from South Africa in 2012. It is a hybrid of deep house, jazz and lounge music characterized by synths, airy pads and wide percussive baselines.
Ndlovu explained,
“Over and above the music, activities that normally cannot be missed are drinking games, trampolines and tattoo booths. Since this time its a breast cancer awareness edition, there will be cancer screening as well.”
“As far as future plans are concerned, there is nothing that we want to do that we are not doing now. We aim to keep using our channels to create platforms for talent where there previously was none. We are aiming to start a Kasi Tour titled “Good In The Hood”, and we are launching it in January 2023. Each month we will pick a location in Bulawayo and make magic there.” added Ndlovu
Ndlovu went on to say that Bulawayo is their home, but they fully intend on taking the festival to other cities, Harare being the most obvious choice.
Admission tickets have been pegged at US$15 for 5 people and then US$5 for a single person. Advance tickets are available as well.
Music will be from various Deejays namely Mufali, Wellyonz. Lasoul, Ble and Kluless.