Manicaland province wins Chibuku Neshamwari
By Own Correspondent
Redwing Mine traditional dance group from Manicaland Province were on Saturday crowned national traditional dance champions at the 53rd edition of this year Chibuku Neshamwari Traditional Dance held on Saturday at White City Stadium in Bulawayo.
The annual traditional dance showcase’s which is run by National Arts Council of Zimbabwe in partnership with Delta Beverages’ Chibuku brand and the Zimbabwe Traditional Dance Association featured 10 provincial champions from all the country’s provinces.
Bulawayo hosted the festival’s 53rd edition for the second time since inception.
For coming first, the 18-member Redwing Mine group pocketed a whopping $7000 while Sekunjalo MaAfrica from Bulawayo and Maramuro Agure from Harare walked away $5000 and $3000 richer for the second and third place respectively.
Redwing Mine exhibited Ben Arinoti dance, while the second and third groups showcased the Mzansi and Malawi Nyau dance.
Tupele Mdala the group’s artistic director said they were dedicate the win to two of their members who were bed ridden and are admitted at Mutare General Hospital.
“We have two of our members who are admitted at Mutare General Hospital and we dedicate our win to them as we came here with emotions and we wanted nothing less than victory for our guys,” Mdala said.
“With this prize money, we want to improve on our customs and pay our members who fought hard for this victory to outclass other talented groups from other provinces.”
This year’s edition of the festival was a two in one event as it also incorporated fashion with three of the Bulawayo based fashion designers Lilian Nyoni, Yvonne Muzembe and Sindumiso Tshuma showcasing their various designs made from Chibuku branded material.
