GIMC beefs up 2017 lineup
Spira Tlhankane | Wednesday May 3, 2017 18:00
Fish Pabalinga of GIMC told Showbiz that the lineup they have for this year is much stronger than the last one and they are already excited about it.
“We have released 90% of the lineup and already people are looking forward to seeing Mafikizolo, Prince Kaybee, OkMalumKoolkat, Vee, MMP Family, Riky Rick and many more,” he said.
While people are hoping for the event to keep up with the hype brought by Black Coffee last year, Pabalinga said he could not dispute that Black Coffee is a crowd puller.
“But GIMC isn’t based on a single artist or marketed around personalities. Remember GIMC is a weeklong event that culminates in a final show held at the national stadium. We are bringing Grammy award-winning artist in Kirk Whalum from the USA who will be heading the jazz show at the Stanbic Bank Piazza,” he said.
He thanked their main sponsor, Stanbic Bank for enabling them to host big names like Kirk Whalum and Jonathan Butler for the jazz acts. The American smooth jazz saxophonist and songwriter will be the second Grammy award-winning artist to grace our country since Joss Stone at the Mascom Live Sessions last year.
Pabalinga added that people love and trust the GIMC brand and hence they are willing to attend it for its quality of production and artists selected.
“We leave no stone unturned, we bring the best international and local artists onto our stages,” he highlighted.
Despite the fact that the final show at the national museum seems to attract a large audience compared to other events, he said they market all events equally and do not favour any over the other.
“It’s natural that the music festival will always pull larger crowds,” he said.
Besides the high profile international acts, GIMC has always been a platform for local artists to prove their worth.
“I don’t believe in spoon feeding local artists. GIMC religiously brings A-list artists from all over the world and it’s for artists in Botswana to see and think how they can take advantage of it.
He said they will be hosting well renowned and successful artists globally like Kirk Whalum and Jonathan Butler, “therefore an artist sitting in Botswana who knows these two legends are coming to spend five days in their backyard must think how they can take advantage of their visit”.
“We host a free workshop for artists that is directed by the visiting artists and local artists hardly show up, which is a pity because they miss a lot. It is a platform that we spend so much money and effort in creating,” he said.
GIMC 2017 will be held from August 26 to September 2, 2017, and it also includes comedy, poetry and choral events.