Tocky Vibes’ three National Arts Merit Awards (Nama) nominations, the highest by any artist in this year’s edition, is another evident sign of how Zimdancehall has evolved to become of one of Zimbabwe’s biggest music genres.

Sadly, Zimdancehall’s growing popularity, however, comes against the backdrop of widespread indiscipline and unprofessionalism that has blighted the fledgling music genre.

Recently, we carried a story on popular Zimdancehall artiste Soul Jah Love’s failure to fulfil a scheduled concert at The Platinum Night Club in Mutare. This no-show followed another one by the same artiste at the Book Café last month where he turned up at 11pm for a concert that was scheduled to start at 8pm.

To make matters worse, Soul Jah Love refused to perform for the small crowd that had patiently waited for his show. As a result, the Book Café management had to refund about 30 fans that had paid for the gig.

Zimdancehall Artistes Must Clean Their Act

Not surprisingly The Book Café, which has in the past suffered huge losses due to the no-show of Zimdancehall artistes such as Lady Squanda, Bounty Lisa and Tocky Vibes, has banned the genre’s artistes from performing at the venue.

There are also reports that The Platinum Night Club in Mutare is considering banning errant Zimdancehall artistes from performing at their venue. This will indeed be a big blow to the genre’s young artistes who are generally struggling to make ends meet.

But the truth of the matter though is that Zimdancehall artistes are victims of self-inflicted pain. In an environment in which concerts are increasingly getting scarce for most musicians across the genres, the behaviour by Zimdancehall artistes surely defies logic.

How does Soul Jah Love and his ilk expect to continue getting shows when they repeatedly demonstrate disrespect to entertainment venue owners and music fans? You cannot kill the proverbial goose that lays golden eggs and still earn a living as a professional musician.

Zimdancehall artistes must clean their act before it is too late. The continued resurgence of the genre will depend largely on the infusion of discipline and professionalism among the increasing ranks of Zimdancehall artistes. Daily News