Shoko Festival Brings it’s A game

By Lerato Ndlovu

Shoko Festival, announced its 2021 headline acts for the six days that started featuring from Monday and livestreamed on the festivals Facebook page and Youtube channel, and speakers for its famous Hub Unconference to be livestreamed on Instagram.

The Hub Unconference’s Digital Media Week will run during the day time from 20 – 24 September and will feature various discussions and panels including a Virtual Mayors Forum, Women Create Worlds Summit and the Africa Satire Convention. The conversations include the State of the Internet Address, a CyberLaws ZW discussion and the Infodemic discussions.

Evening entertainment starts at 7 pm with the night time concerts like Lost – A Spoken Word Experience. Wednesday 22nd September features The Underground, a unique selection of artists exploring sub genres in Zimdancehall and Zim hip hop. Thursday 23rd September will be the much anticipated Shoko Roast curated by Simuka Comedy, as popular Zimbabwean celebrities get together for an epic roast of a well known public personality. Mash Ups Night on 24th September will bring the weekend flavour as the festival presents an event featuring never-seen-before artistic collaborations. Shoko 2021 reaches its climax on Saturday 25th September in a jam-packed Peace In The Hood with lots of plot twists for our virtual audience.

“We look forward to taking our audience on a virtual journey this year,as we again aim to challenge our audiences an ourselves with brave and unique programming.

“From our Shoko Roast that speaks truth to power to our Lost Spoken Word Journey which will break boundaries and borders with poetry.

“From the cutting edge new voices in the Underground to the big name acts at Peace in the Hood. From the laughter of the Africa Satire Convention to our Digital Media Week which will present inspiring talks and panels. This will be a journey into the Shoko Universe to inspire you and make you move!” said festival director Comrade Fatso.

For the festivals headline acts they will include Tocky Vibes, Feli Nandi, Voltz JT and Van Choga. International headline acts include award-winning UK rapper, Dizraeli, and Dutch spoken word artist, Smita James. Events to look out for include the first-ever comedy roast of a Zimbabwean politician as the Shoko Comedy Roast features some of Zimbabwe’s top comedians joking about controversial LEAD President, Linda Masarira, live on stage with Doc Vikela as the ‘Roastmaster’.

Another interesting notable event will be Mash Ups Night where Shoko Festival teamed up with Masofa Panze and Djembe Monks to curate a night of brand new urban musical collaborations including Dancehall Kedha, Mimi Tarukwana, Sylent Nqo and GZE.

The festival will reach its crescendo with the ever popular Peace in The Hood event that will feature an innovative set with popular acts like Tocky Vibes sharing the stage with the new generation of urban artists like Tanto Wavie, the trap sungura creator and Van Choga.