Gospel songstress Nkosi Mhlanga who launched her debut album at the Triple Album Launch event held recently at Marriage Centre in Harare said lack of support for local musicians was the reason why the country’s music industry is not growing.
By Mukundi Masinire
In an interview with 263Chat, the Zimbabwe College of Music graduate said Zimbabwe’s music is lagging behind compared to other countries owing to lack of appreciation and support of local music in the country.
Mhlanga said gospel music was the worst affected by lack of support saying only a few music promoters were investing in the genre.
“People in Zimbabwe should learn to appreciate and support music done by their own artists through attending their shows and buying the music from them as opposed to buying from pirates.
“This lack of support discourages the artists, especially when it comes to gospels music- you find that there are very few promoters or sponsors compared to those sponsoring circular music.
“If these challenges are corrected, our music will tremendously improve,” she said.
Mhlanga also encouraged fellow local musicians to go for quality when producing their music saying this will increase the appeal and marketability of their music.
“Local artists also should learn to take time in producing their music, not to just record for the sake of just recording- they should go for quality.
“Sometimes our music is not appreciated because it’s poorly done and is not worth listening to,” she said
The 23 year old musician however said these challenges facing the music industry will not stop her as she is currently employing different strategies to market her new album.
It is usually the norm in Zimbabwe that musicians put effort and resources in launching their albums and after the launch they do virtually nothing to market their product but the Borrowdale Brook based Nkosie said she is stopping at nothing.
“The CDs are already available and I’m looking forward to market my music online and have lots of concerts around the country, promoting my album.
“We have begun also marketing the music through radio stations and so far we have received air play from a radio station in the United Kingdom.
Nkosinobubelo Mhlanga who is commonly known as Nkosie was born 23 years ago in Gwanda and began her professional musical Journey in 2014 when she enrolled at the Zimbabwe College of music.
She plays and teaches African instruments- mbira and Marimba.