Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) runs from 30 April to 5 May 2013. From the HIFA website:
“The HIFA 2013 theme, is “What’s Next…”
This year’s theme reflects our feeling in HIFA of positive progress this year. We are moving in all new directions and are excited by the possibilities ahead of us as a Festival, as a team, as a city, as a country. The theme echoes also the feeling we want our audiences to have at the Festival of what’s the next show, the next dance, the next concert they are going to see.We chose the colour orange to reflect the dawn of possibility and the warmth of the energy we are experiencing and the colour blue to show the positive blue skies we see ahead for us. The arrows reflect the energy in all directions, like on an iphone or a smart phone – swipe the arrows to go next.”
Download the HIFA 2013 programme here: http://www.hifa.co.zw/HIFA_2013_Programme.pdf. Not-to-be-missed performers include Baaba Maal, Shingai Shoniwa with The Noisettes, and Prudence Katomeni.
Tickets for the general public will be available from 19 April at Arundel Village Shopping Centre, Avondale Shopping Centre and Harare Gardens – check the website and Facebook page for more details.
From a previous post about HIFA on Great Zimbabwe Guide:
“HIFA does what it says on the tin, and then some. For a week each year, Harare Gardens and other venues around the city are transformed into a buzzing, laughing, singing hub of drama, dance and music. Top-class performers from Zimbabwe and around the globe assemble to entertain and enlighten.
To say that HIFA is the highlight of the year for many a Zimbabwean is an understatement. People travel from Bulawayo, Victoria Falls and Mutare to share in the festivities. It’s the one fixture in the Zimbabwean calendar that lights up the whole country. The excitement begins in March when teasers of performers are announced, reaches its pinnacle during the days of the festival, and stays in the hearts of audiences for months afterwards.
HIFA is more than just a well-established, well-run, well-attended arts festival. It has become one of the only sources of expression in a country where print, radio and television is heavily controlled by the government. The shows at HIFA often have a political theme, are deeply satirical, and are performed with heart-stopping boldness. Zimbabwean audiences arrive each year, battered by the country’s trials, and watch performances of stories that speak to their hearts. They leave with new fight inside them.”
