Harare International Carnival

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The Grand Parade at the Inaugural Harare International Carnival in 2013

The Harare International Carnival is a week long annual festival that encompasses a series of events and festivities. It is aimed at advancing the arts, culture and heritage of Zimbabwe as well as uniting the populace.[1] It is all about celebrating diversity, getting communities together, while simultaneously marketing the country through through international and domestic tourism. The HIC in Zimbabwe is organised by a number of organisations and these include the tourism sector, the government as well as private companies.

The Inaugural Edition

The 2014 inaugural edition of the Harare International carnival held in April attracted 10 000 people from all walks of life.[2] 15 Countries from all over the world came and took part in the week long festival.[3] The official opening witnessed the historic march of the participants for 4 Kilometres from the heart of the Africa Unity Square at the heart of the central business district through Jason Moyo street to the Glamis Arena at the Harare Show Grounds.[4]

This historic march amidst music and dance brought business in the city to a halt as people jostled to catch a glimpse of the new feature in the country; the Harare International Carnival. The festival which was organised by he Zimbabwe Tourism Authority was officially opened by the then vice president of the republic Joice Mujuru.[3] The Carnival was celebrated in style under the theme Celebrating Our Diversity[5]

Performances

The greatest of all performances was arguably the Samba Dance performances by the dancers from Brazil. The dances stole the attention of most shoppers and audience in the busy streets of Harare. It was the Street Party dubbed Southern Africa’s Biggest Street Party and the Carnival Zimdancehall night which ignited the excitement that had been anticipated when the feté roared into life. There were also performances by some of Zimbabwe's best musicians such as Alick Macheso, Jah Prayzer, Sandra Ndebele, Winky D, Souljah Love among others.[5]

The carnival ever since its launch ,is now a colourfull yearly event attracting many people of different cultures around the world.

Objectives of the HIC

  1. To hold a mega carnival annually
  2. To increase brand visibility and showcase Zimbabwe as a tourism destination of choice
  3. To present and preserve the intangible cultural heritage of Zimbabwe
  4. To promote the development of cultural industries and transforming carnival into a viable economical enterprise
  5. To promote social cohesion.[1]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 , THE HARARE INTERNATIONAL CARNIVAL, "Harare International Carnival", retrieved:31 Jul 2014"
  2. N. Muvavarirwa, Samba flavour at Harare International Carnival, "The Southern Times", published:25 Apr 2014,retrieved:25 Apr 2014"
  3. 3.0 3.1 M. Mvura Harare International Carnival in retrospect, "The Patriot", published:29 May 2014,retrieved:" Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "patriot" defined multiple times with different content
  4. M. Mpofu, Harare International Carnival begins, "Chronicle", published:16 My 2014,retrieved:31 Jul 2014"
  5. 5.0 5.1 W. Antonio, Harare carnival ends in style, "NewsDay", published:26 May 2014,retrieved:31 Jul 2014"

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