Dressing to kill?
Jah people, half of the festive season has elapsed and the ending has already begun. Accept my belated best wishes as we look forward to a new year of this and that resulting from what we have already done and resolve to achieve ahead.
However, hearing Jai Banda demanding the cast of his Entertainers Promotions’ Pungwee at Motel Paradise on Tuesday to dress smart and look elegant like never before was a stunning 2013 shutdown.
Christened Mr Entertainer due to his three decades of promoting the country’s entertainers, Jai is neither a teacher nor a soldier to start whipping artists into colonial garbs.
He is only a lawyer, accustomed to the expensive suits that go with wigs of his learned profession.
From his profession is clear that smart dressing is the making of lasting first impressions necessary for a fruitful career.
Jai’s timeline in the creative sector shows he has never demanded too much from our artists who seem to think shabbiness means being creative.
Indeed Jai did not summon his 50 000-watt equipment, complete with stage lights and bubbles, to disabuse the artists of the misconception that artists know no dressing codes.
Some artists may rue him for being too lawyer-ish or spelling out too tall an order for their meager income, but those that are always shabby should ask themselves: “Why always me?”
During founding president Kamuzu Banda’s reign, art was serious business and it was amazing how the likes of Kamenya Choir used to sheath themselves in suits befitting the lion’s big occasions when district governors were flying yavi yavi.
The good ole Kamenya might have allowed their decency to roll over to the late Bingu wa Mutharika’s times, but it is saddening how artists, even the old guards, seem to see nothing wrong with dressing like urban music cartoons or comedian when their offerings sound otherwise.
Dressing might be a way of expression and part of the act, but the coming year is another opportunity to revisit the numerous things, we in the arts industry, take for granted—sadly to our peril. Have a prosperous year.
