Dubbed GIMC Afro Tech 6.0, it will be held at the Game City Marquee on March 29. Speaking to Arts&Culture this week, event director, Fish Pabalinga, said the GIMC is joining the International Women’s Month celebrations with an all-female performers line-up. Pabalinga also said the GIMC Afro Tech 6.0 is a perfect platform to celebrate the role the local female DJs talents have played in the local entertainment scene while exposing budding talents to the international event scene. “If you look at the past couple of years, there has been a big push by women in this space and they are deserving to play in one of the biggest creative platforms in Botswana that has consistently pushed BW talent,” said Pabalinga. The GIMC Afro Tech has grown to become the biggest one-genre music festival in the entertainment scene since making its debut in April 2022.
The GIMC Afro Tech has since been graced by the biggest DJs in the Afro Tech genre with the list including heavyweight performers such as Black Motion, Sun El Musician, Eno Napa, Da Capo, Darque while Culoe de Song was the latest to enter the list in the last edition. Pabalinga has since said the GIMC Afro Tech 6.0 will not feature any male or international act in a bid to promote female talent locally while proving they have the mettle to match their male counterparts in the music genre.
“There has been a lot of debate in the past whether an all-local line-up, let alone an all-female line-up can pull crowds. To the best of our knowledge, this will be the first all-female line-up of a major event, so we believe it will work, people will come in numbers to come and witness first-hand the talent that resides within BW. Time for the men to step up and support women as the latter has been supporting male artists for the longest,” said Pabalinga. The GIMC Afro Tech 6.0 line-up therefore features among others KELE, Osaka Sun, Nendiyo, DJ Rudo, DJ Mis J, DJ Missy, Kutlo Scope and Bo Kettle.
This edition will be an exclusive Ultra Feminine Show, and will also have bundled tickets with GIMC-BK Proctor Merchandise, which will be a first for The Afro Tech sessions. Tickets for the event are selling for P150 for a single and P800 for a double ticket that comes with a bottle of Tanqueray and six mixers. The double ticket also includes two GIMC cups and two pairs of GIMC-BK Proctor neon socks. “GIMC is a platform that is inclusive, so we want to support and showcase talent to as many diverse people as possible, hence why even during the main events in September, we have seven shows that cater for different interest, age groups, etc, so why not prop up women in the creative industry and showcase how far they have come in the industry. They also deserve full recognition and a place at the top table,” said Pabalinga.
