This year the Youth Zone was a structured slightly different. Through out the years it has been a free space for the kids but this year they commercialised it. There was a day pass that was required and you could watch shows there through out the day. We didnt attend many shows this year. There was the Guitar workshop by Prayersoul and the Chisipite Senior Girls Choir. The Simba mascot also made an appearance this year!
Salif Keita was the headline act of HIFA 2010 and closed the festival on the Telecel Mainstage.
Hope Masike makes her debut at HIFA.
‘Moto’ means ‘fire’ in Shona. Moto production featured an all star line up of Southern African artisits. Zamboian Born South African rapper Zubz, Comrade Fatso and Chabvondoka, Outspoken from Zimbabwe, and TJ Dema, poet from Botswana. Tina Watyoka was alsobacking vocals with Chabvondoka.
Zimbabwean hip hop artist Outspoken and his band The Essence, collaborated with Italian group Trio Broz. Trio Broz is made up of two sisters and a brother.
Closing act each year sees fireworks launched and brighten up the Harare cityscape.
Despite this year’s HIFA theme being titled engage, nothing could be further from the stated objective. The low audience turnout and entertainers didn’t help matters. The billed acts were barely known in Zimbabwe. However, with POVO’s debut at HIFA, the intention was to make our stand as engaging as possible. The main purpose of the stand was to market the POVO brand, generate traffic to the website, and encourage more people to contribute to it. The T-shirts on sale generated a lot of interest and rave reviews from both local and international visitors to the stand.
2012 saw Edith We Utonga debut at HIFA at the Lays Global Stage sinding tracks from her new debut album as a solo artist Utonga. She also teamed up with Publish the Quest to give a scintillating show at The Mannenburg
Last year Winky D made his debut at HIFA at the Coca Cola Green. This year he was a much anticipated act. Judging by the celebrities at the show the show was very much anticipated. All the 'Ninjaz' came out to see Big Man as he is affectionately known.
American band Publish the Quest made their debut at HIFA with a performance at the Lays Global stage. They also did a collaboration with Edith We Utonga at The Mannenberg
