After months of capacity building, business and creative skills development; connecting and networking, over 20 creatives from the UK and Zimbabwe came together to collaborate.
Split into five groups, young and aspiring digital artists, musicians, spoken word artists, filmmakers and producers were challenged to collaborate across sectors . Racing against time, the creatives managed to work together and produce 5 tracks which they showcased at Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle.
About Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle
Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle is a next generation digital content creative collaboration pairing vocalists, spoken word artists and digital music creators from Zimbabwe and the UK working together beyond borders and other physical boundaries. Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle is part of Scripts and Bars.
Delivered by Kay Media Africa and UK-based Reprezent (UK), Scripts and Bars is a digital content creation programme that brings together 100 creatives from Zimbabwe and UK to deliver collaborative artwork across the Music and Literature sectors. The project is supported by British Council in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
The project seeks to enhance the digital content creation capacity and enterprise skills of creatives and arts organisations in Zimbabwe whilst strengthening their livelihoods, supporting job creation and increasing their access to networks.
What Went Down
The Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle aired live on UK-based, Reprezent Radio on Sunday, 27 March 2022 . The show was hosted by DJ’s and producers, Patrick Denny and Davia Martins and featured two hours of engaging and exclusive collaborative music and spoken word from selected Zimbabwe and UK creatives.
Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle was all about highlighting the collaborative work produced by the creatives under Zimbabwean hubs, Comexposed, Page Poetry Alive, Khura Agency and UK hub, Reprezent who took part in the Scripts and Bars project. The collaborative work took the form of 5 songs titled Famba, Never Gonna Lose, Rise, Keep Going Higher and I Am She all which incorporated animation, spoken word and video and highlighted the power of working across sectors.
The Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle also showcased some of the creatives’ own songs, mini mixes, tracks and productions and some highlights were a spoken word piece by Rutendorwashe Mutsamwira celebrating the essence of Zimbabwean women and tracks by Bulawayo-based, award-winning artist, Msiz’kay.
Of the Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle, Kay Media Africa, executive producer Keith Kuhudzai said it was all about “sparking ideas, creating, collaborating and connecting.” This was evident in the way the creative collaboration brought together artists that normally wouldn’t have met or considered collaborating together.
Creative strategist and founder of Khura Agency, Thembi Therry also highlighted a number of participants from Khura Agency who were already making plans to collaborate with other artists in Zimbabwe and the UK following the project. She stated, “Ultimately as creatives collaboration is actually the secret sauce from how we go forward together in the creative industry”. This could not be more true.
Thanks to the Vocal Vinyl Vortex Creative Hustle animators, spoken word artists, filmmakers and music producers all connected and came together to create art that was urban, youthful and proved that these young creatives have what it takes to perform on global stages.
Now here is to hoping that these artists would go on to continue collaborating and reach new audiences, together.
