Chipanga cries foul as he is excluded from Gala

Hosiah Chipanga

Sungura musician Hosiah Chipanga has cried foul claiming he has been left out of the list of performers at the 21st February Movement Gala to be held in Chipinge on Saturday. Chipanga is the most experienced musician from Manicaland and says he hoped he would be part of the proceedings since the gala is being held in his province.

The Kwachu Kwachu hitmaker has performed at most of the state galas held in the country so far. “I feel ashamed and deeply pained to be left out of the list of artists who will be performing in Chipinge because I thought as locals we were going to be given first preference,” said Chipanga. He said he suspects the move to sideline him was politically-motivated since he had performed at the MDC-T anniversary at Gwanzura in September last year.

The visibly troubled Chipanga told NewsDay he confronted the organisers of the gala, but was promised that he could be included in the list. The musician took it as a polite answer to get rid of him. But national gala co-ordinator Retired Major Anyway Mutambudzi said they had not finalised their line-up for the gala adding Chipanga had acted unprofessionally by approaching the Press with his complaint.

“If he had any complaint he should have approached us. He was not supposed to run to you. We have not released the final list yet so he should not have drawn a conclusion,” said Mutambudzi. However, Mutambudzi clearly stated it was not given that an artist from a host province of any gala automatically qualifies to perform. “There is no guarantee that a musician from a province hosting a gala should perform. There are numerous other musicians from Manicaland that have been left out, but they did not come to you to complain.

“We have also left out other gala regulars like Sandra Ndebele and Gift Amuli and they have not complained. Our database has more than 1 000 musicians and every gala we only take between 40 and 45 groups therefore others will be left out.” Recently, several other musicians from Manicaland jointly requested to b e given a platform to share the stage with the seasoned musicians at the gala. Musicians from the province like Agatha Murudzwa,

Blessing Shumba and Juicer Mupositori have been confirmed as participants at the 21st February Movement Gala. Other popular musicians from across the country that will perform include Alick Macheso, Peter Moyo, Sulumani Chimbetu and Winky D. (Newsday)