Lekopanye Mooketsi
14 October 2008
Musicians will not escape the effects of government's newly imposed liquor regulations, which have reduced the opening hours for nightclubs and other beer establishments.
The government came up with a new package of regulations in a bid to fight alcohol abuse in the country.
According to the new rules, nightclubs must close at midnight during the week and at 2.00 am over the weekends. In the past, nightclubs closed at 4.00 am throughout the weekend.
Nightclubs remain popular venues for hosting music shows.
Places like the Lizard Lounge, Chez Ntemba, Millennium Jazz Restaurant, Satchmo's Jazz Café and Ozone have always provided a platform for both local and visiting international artists. Even Trekkers in Maun, which is owned by promoter Tops Masole, has been a favourite destination for local artists.
But with the new regulations, club operators might not engage artists to cut costs.
Nightclub owners have been complaining that they are going to operate within shorter trading hours and as a result they might not be able to stage shows.
The new regulations for nightclubs were planned to go into effect in April, but the High Court ordered that they should only apply when old special licences have expired. This followed a court case lodged by nightclub operators against the government. Now that most of the old special licences have expired, the government has started to enforce the new liquor regulations.
Afro jazz songbird, Punah Gabasiane, who relies on nightclubs for her shows, decried that the new regulations are going to affect them (artists).
"It is going to hit us. I do not see nightclub owners engaging us. It is going to affect our earnings," she said.
She added that life is going to be tough for them. Gabasiane said they could not start early because most patrons come late for shows. Another musician, Malombo Mmereki, said their future is bleak. He said they cannot perform during the day because people would still be at work.
He said artists are going to be caught in crossfire in the war between government and liquor traders.
A promoter, David "DVD" Abram, concurred that the music industry is going to suffer as many artists will have no source of income as they rely on shows. He said "a lot of talent" would be going to waste in the process.
Soares Katumbela of Street Horn Promotions said they do not have any problem with the new regulations. Katumbela, who also runs Mochudi's jazz joint Jazz Brew, said they have always wanted shows to start early. He called on other nightclubs to follow suit and start their shows early.
Some few months ago, a promoter who organised a jazz festival at the Fairgrounds, made a huge loss after the police closed the show at midnight. Buy the time the police ordered the festival closed, some big acts billed for the show, like the South African based jazz artist, Tsepho Tshola, had not performed. Zimbabwean maestro, Oliver Mtukudzi, was hardly 10 minutes on stage when the police declared the festival was over. The artists were paid in advance for the festival.
In terms of festivals, the new regulations stipulate that they should end at midnight.
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