by Bayano Valy – SANF 06 No 11
For 12 hours on 28 January, Machava Stadium on the outskirts of Maputo became the unofficial capital of art in southern Africa.
Mozambicans are usually not known for being adventurous when it comes to musical shows. They usually stick to what they know and, in most cases, local is better. Not even the presence of big international acts moves them.
Surely, the presence of the British reggae band, UB40, in Maputo for the HIV and AIDS charity show on 28 January was not going to make a difference, most people thought. But they were proved wrong.
The event, dubbed “Festival of Hope”, had been organised to raise awareness on the dangers of the deadly HIV and AIDS. Official statistics indicate that about 16.2 percent of the adult population is infected with HIV.
Apart from UB40, there were also regional heavyweights such as Zimbabwean superstar Oliver Mtukudzi, and South African reggae singer, Lucky Dube.
Mozambique’s best bands also took to the stage. These included late President Samora Machel’s favourite band, Ghorwane, the popular Kapa Dech, and the country’s most successful rock group, Rockfellers.
There was also a hitherto unknown American, Vinx, who turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
Other than the artistes, the festival also attracted a regional audience. A sizeable number of the more than 40,000 people who attended the show were from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Swaziland.
In the name of regional cooperation and to widen the reach of the festival, show tickets were also sold in South Africa. Rather than mainly advertising the event in Mozambique, the organisers gambled by selling tickets in the neighbouring South Africa.
Others were informed about the show through their Mozambican friends, thanks to modern communication technology. The Internet and cell phone short messaging service played an important role in opening the show up to people outside Mozambique.
The result was that tickets in South Africa sold out a month before the date of the show.
The regional appeal of the festival was aided by the recent scrapping of visa requirements by Mozambique for nationals of some countries within Southern African Development Community (SADC).
South Africa and Mozambique scrapped visas for their citizens in April 2005 year.
The agreement to get rid of the visa requirement was signed by South African President Thabo Mbeki and his Mozambican counterpart Armando Guebuza.
Mozambique also scrapped visas for the nationals of Swaziland in August 2005.
The agreements were in line with the Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons in SADC signed by member states in 2005.
