The Federation for Choral Music of Zimbabwe (FCMZ) will hold a fundraising marathon on May 5th to support upcoming music festivals.
The half Marathon is scheduled to take place at Alexandra Sports Club in Harare.
Speaking to EnterSportNews, FCMZ chairman Pedzisayi Junior Chiramba said this is a debut and inaugural marathon event, essentially a fundraising effort to raise some money rather than ask for direct donations.
“We are hoping to raise USD$20,000.00 from marathon registrations, corporate donations and well-wishers,” said Chiramba.
“This amount is still not enough for the FCMZ programs ahead, but at least we will be starting somewhere,” he explained.
Chiramba hinted other fundraising initiatives are also lined up and will be disclosed after the hosting of the 25 May 2024 Hymnal Festival.
This is a choral music festival open to church choirs only. The objective of this event is to bring church choirs back to their church hymn books, as opposed to the more fashionable current singing of choruses and praise & worship, eroding the fabric of church hymns.
A Champion of Champions Choral Competition is scheduled for Saturday, 14 December 2024, at a venue to be advised. This festival targets the top 10 community choirs and the top 10 church choirs. In the church category, there will be only one choir to represent the whole church denomination nationally.
“This is our biggest event held in December. This year and all subsequent years will be different in that the same festival has been rebranded and has taken a new format,” said Chiramba.
“It is designed to close the choral music calendar before the Christmas Carols set off and choirs start to slow down into the festive holidays,” he explained.
“Again, the FCMZ is looking for partners in the corporate world to help introduce huge prizes and sponsorship, which can even enable FCMZ to invite international choirs and adjudicators to attend the festival,” said Chiramba.
Besides music festivals, the FCMZ also hosts workshops and trains musicians and choristers on particular skills, such as conducting and playing instruments, in partnership with the Zimbabwe College of Music (ZCM).
FCMZ is building a platform where choirs benefit directly and financially from its initiatives. One of the key objectives of the FCMZ is to make choral music rewarding to everyone involved.
Chiramba highlighted the major challenge facing their industry is funding.
“Most active participants in choral music have little resources, not enough to fund the business of the choirs, thereby missing out on many great opportunities.”
“All the work that happens in choral music is funded from own personal and volunteer resources, thereby exposing the genre to lack of commitment, consistency and continuity,” he said.
According to the FCMZ, most popular musicians today started in choirs and choral music, in which they built their careers.
Numerous compositions and performances have been made, including the national anthem.
Like many other sports disciplines, choral groups have gone out of the country, regionally and internationally, and brought several medals. Still, unfortunately, these were not as celebrated in magnitude and attention as they would deserve.
