PICTURE: Checheche Cultural Group performing with Red Cross ambassador
Alick Macheso (with guitar) and group patron Hazviperi Musandaka (with mbira)
WHEN Canadian-born Marshal McLuhan popularised the term “global village” lest did he know that the term would be misinterpreted fifty years down the line. Initially, he referred to how the internet could unify communities in real-time regardless of their distances. This gave birth to the global culture.
Simply described as what is shared by a significant number of people with values and behavior norms which are promoted by travel, the internet and mass media like films, newspapers, magazines, television and radio; global culture sails as a contemporary of popular culture, sub culture and high culture. Many people remain faithful to their cultures even if they migrate to other lands.
Tourists from abroad visit Zimbabwe to consume our undiluted culture. Cultural tourists enjoy African treats that include eating traditional food sadza made of sorghum served with okra or mopane worms, drinking maheu and opaque beer as refreshments and sleeping on reed or goats skin mats. On the contrary many of our people are shunning the same things which people from abroad are paying air tickets to enjoy here. It is sad to note that they claim to be living in a global culture era, but they fall short of the global culture itself. As a result I shall refer to their new culture as “parallel culture”.
When something is parallel to the other it means that it goes in the same direction and will never meet with the other. Parallel culture in this aspect has the same course with high culture, sub culture, popular culture and global culture and will never meet with them.
Each category of the four cultures has behavioral norms, standard dressing and communicable language.
On dressing, high culture has its suits and designer clothes, sub culture has its java and leather clothes while popular and global culture has its jeans and checked shirts. What’s in stores for the parallel culture? Tight revealing clothes are women’s crave as men endure the weight of heavy chains on their necks. As if not enough, the men put more than one trouser at one goal resembling a moving wardrobe. Can this really attract tourists to Zimbabwe?
One cannot trace the origin of the parallel cultures language. Many cannot construct a fluent complete sentence in their tribal languages, worse still collective languages like IsiNdebele and ChiShona. They are used to words that don’t exist in any of the dictionary in the world. Can this type of language really attract tourists to visit our country?
Like toxic chemicals and effluent that pollutes land and water, noise is pollution to the atmosphere. The digital music admired in parallel culture much noise. In sub culture calypso and reggae with its branches like conscious and dancehall identifies the Caribbean people. Afro beat and rumba identifies African people. Can the heavy metallic and noisy gong beats produced in parallel culture attract any tourists to our country?
The Government of Zimbabwe introduced the concept of establishing cultural villages in schools as a means of promoting cultural values in mainstream education. A responsible ministry of arts, sports and culture was also established. Has the culture in schools concept started to yield results? The case of Checheche High School is a clear testimony.
Located in the hot arid region of Chipinge South, the school has an enrolment of 838 students under the guidance of 31 teachers. To complement government policy of promoting cultural values into the youth, the school established a cultural group that motivates the community in awareness campaigns. Led by 37 year old Hazviperi Musandaka, who was born-and bred in Ngaone communal lands of Chipinge and a product of Mutare Teachers College, the cultural group managed to catch the eyes of humanitarian organisations like the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society which in turn donated a musical kit to promote its activities.
What really led to the donation? Mr Musandaka said: “How we showcased our culture during one of the Red Cross campaigns impressed tourists who came on Norwegian Red Cross Society business. They really appreciated how our students maintained their identity.”
On why most youth in Zimbabwe are adopting parallel culture, Mr Musandaka said: “The problem mainly lies with us parents. If most of us have lost our identity, how can we influence the children to maintain our culture? I was influenced to play mbira instrument at the age of 21 by Mr Tendeukai Kuture of Africa University in Mutare. It helped me appreciate our culture.”
The ambassador for the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society Mr Alick Macheso speaking on the sidelines of the musical kit donation said: “Arts and culture have a future. I have travelled abroad due to music. I don’t see why these youngsters cannot travel abroad to showcase our culture. I hope they shall be considered to perform at local cultural platforms like HIFA.”
The secondary students have made it; can primary school kids make a breakthrough in maintaining our culture? The forthcoming article shall answer the question.