When Nyaradzo announced the Upenyu Festival - a celebrationof 25 years of the organisation, the irony of a funeral services company announcing a festival dedicated to life was not lost on me. Yet it was easy remember that their business had always been the living.
They show up on the worst possible days for us and help make things a little easier. So while ironic the name was very rational.
Now although event organisers often make it look easy, having a successful festival is anything but, especially a debut edition at an unknown location (even with Nyaradzo’s 25 years of goodwill). However, while the life in Lifestyle Park was doing a lot of heavy lifting, Upenyu's debut went off with only the slight hitches.
It has often been said (by the author) that festivals are the only example of true freedom that we have, and this was once again reinforced. As has become custom at events of such nature, the collective fashion sense observed no norms and fell into no boxes - although the ground collectivelly called for farmer shoes rather than the crowd's array of sneakers.
The sound was as good as if it was engineered by Rayobeats, barring a few minor hiccups. The stage lighting, phenomenal. The food, delicious. The amenities, as good as home, and the vibes, good enough to turn back the clock on death.
There was a park and ride option (parking your car at a bus station then getting a shuttle to and fro), which I didn't make use of but was such a great offering, and something more festivals should look into. This alongside the free WiFi (needs some work, I couldn't finish any of my downloads), the floating screen in the night's sky and the pyrotechnics, set them apart from every other event on Harare's calendar.
The afternoon was dominated by the emerging talents: Xiba had us feeling deeply for our vices with "Bhiya," Sane Wav's infectious bounce had us on our feet and Atenda Chinx had us reaching out for the hopeless romantic within ourselves, delivering the best performance I've seen from her. Tinashe Fortune was MC for the afternoon, his presence going far beyond his stature and living up to old adage that dynamite comes in small packages.
Jay was as good as ever, delivering an Afro house set that instantly lifted the mood as dusk was giving way to starlight. A silver lining for the DJs, who didn't have the best day in the office.
Saintfloew (alongside Shabach The Band) hit the stage and instantly reminded me of a recent realisation: The more concerts and festivals I attend, the more I see that there is a vast gap between what Saintfloew and what the average artist (local or otherwise) can do on stage, a gargantuan gap in fact! As things stand, if you're a festival organiser just pay whatever he says.
Tamy Moyo was both a dance and vocal talent on stage, captivating the audience with a track selection that drifted from Afro R&B to Zimdancehall. Easily the night's most energetic displays electable, only slightly soured by Selekta Base coming on to remind us that while festivals may give this unbridled feeling of freedom, DJs will never free us from "All I Do Win."
A sad realisation that a homecoming queen, quickly erased from our minds. Sha Sha's catalogue as a vocalist ranks as one of the best in amapianoand she put that on show. "Sing It Back," "Woza," "Akulaleki," "Phakade Lami," "Mthande" - RIP Riky Rick and most importantly "Love You Tonight." Beautiful is the word. Both for her performance and how stunning she looked. It brings to mind how once upon time in Chadcombe, Sha Sha was the reason half the neighbourhood came to church, but that's a story for another time.
MaWhoo arrived not long after Sha Sha, and the mood was elevated as we went from amapiano to 3-step. We clapped along to "Tholukuthi," loudly sang the wrong lyrics to "Bengicela" and "Uzizwa Kanjan," before being even louder when we broke out in dance for "Dubai." Personal biases and all, MaWhoo was everything.
There was a cameo from the Shona Prince, who gave us taste of both his former artistic identity and his current persona. It was punctuated by a performance of "Pote" alongside Tamy Moyo, but the crowd didn't get nearly enough. If someone can please let him know that the people have fallen in love with the Shona Prince than they did Takura.
As midnight approached, Upenyu's piece de resistance, DJ Maphorisa, finally graced the staged, and if you thought the Harare was longer intrigued by him due to his frequent visits then you would be very wrong. We once again (the 6th time in the last year) sang along to "Abalele," and "Asibe Happy" with Maphorisa the DJ (some of his best work on the decks), before Madumane the MC took to the mic and conducted us in dance like no MC before. Aptly walking off to fireworks.
Its faults in curation (the energy curve on the night could've more consistent) and venue set up aside, Upenyu had made a fair case of living up to the hype for its debut. Nyaradzo’s silver jubilee had delivered a true celebration of life. It is the first in a trilogy of festivals of the year, and if its anything to go by, we're in for a time with Tamba/Ezomgido in August.
Greedysouth rating: 7.6/10