Perspectives: The importance of ZimboJam
Editor’s fireside chat
07 November 2011
Bravo to Fungai James Tichawangana and his team at Zimbojam. Three years later their funky showbiz, arts and lifestyle online magazine has been, and remains, Zimbabwe’s leading light in keeping the shine on the Zimbabwean arts and entertainment scene. Print newspapers in Zimbabwe are boring, to say the least. Their coverage of the arts is pathetic and their reviews, if we can call them that, are always inadequate. Local arts journalists consider it a job well done when they copy and paste blurbs or reproduce press release statements and sometimes shamelessly put by-lines. We need a bit of creativity and originality; passion and rigour.
Zimbojam has made a very interesting and significant intervention on the contemporary Zimbabwean arts scene. It has transformed the social image and meaning of art in Zimbabwe. It has achieved this by means of its relations with its audiences. The inception of the magazine was closely associated with its recognition of and response to its reading public. The dominant or characteristic concepts, idioms and images of the magazine are directed towards, and about this public.It’s a mostly young public.
What is exciting here is that young people are actors and active participants in the cultural discourse of their country. In many ways, Zimbojam is an organic publisher. The reporter can be anyone who happens to be where it’s all happening, some kind of citizen journalism. Of course there is method to it all. It is an open and interactive forum moderated by a dedicated team of jammers operating from the heart of Zimbabwe, Harare. The readers are actively engaged through social media forms such as twitter and facebook. As such, Zimbojam challenges the traditional notion that the reader is a passive mummified object that is force fed whatever. There is no reason why any reader of Zimbojam should not become a contributor.
In this way, it is important that the writers and artists of Zimbabwe declare themselves, make themselves visible. Our writers and artists are no longer mystic beings who remain in caves and produce, they are part of us and willing to engage with their publics when called upon. And Zimbojam has also become a cyber bridge that has been connecting Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe and Zimbabweans elsewhere. Then there is the Zimbo Jam blog, a platform for many Zimbabweans on one blog. It is a way and a means to connect and encourage dialogue among Zimbabweans.
What Zimbojam has done so well since its conception is to celebrate, discuss and report on news and developments on the arts scene in Zimbabwe. The NAMA for outstanding online arts publisher they received from the National Arts Council was well deserved and serves as validation of their invaluable contribution to the social and cultural fabric of the Zimbabwean society. Thank you Zimbojam for injecting doses of good humour, interviews, photos, videos in our everyday discourse. Please, keep on jamming Zimbojam.
