Joe Thomas concert leaves fans slightly out of pocket

Joe Thomas concert leaves fans slightly out of pocket

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By Showbiz Reporter

ZIMBABWEAN music fans paid through the nose for a rare moment to watch American R&B singer Joe Thomas live in concert.

The Grammy Award winning star arrived in Harare last Thursday -- the latest in a long line of foreign celebrity guests invited by the country’s tourism agency which is bidding to attract international visitors.

Joe – whose career took off with the 2000 release of his smash album My Name is Joe -- performed at the Harare International Conference Centre on Saturday. Hundreds of cheering fans were also treated to a performance by local hero, Oliver Mtukudzi.

But many fans were left out of pocket, having to pay Z$200 million (about £20) for a ticket for the show. In Zimbabwe, the average monthly wage is $100 million.

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) has lined up several international artists for performances in the country which has witnessed a dramatic decline in tourist arrivals because of rising lawlessness and western governments’ advice to citizens to shun Zimbabwe because it is “unsafe”. Many see this as another frontier of western powers’ dispute with President Robert Mugabe’s government which is accused of human rights abuses and failure to respect property rights.

Jamaican reggae star has already been to the country, paid handsomely in US dollars by the ZTA while the country experiences severe shortages of foreign currency.

Joe is said to have asked for a fee of between US$50 000 and US$60 000 – an absolute fortune by local standards.

Joe – who admitted he had never heard of Zimbabwe until he was hired to perform there – enjoyed a trip to the Victoria Falls and was also shown the National Heroes Acre, a shrine reserved for the country’s independence war heroes.

When a reporter asked the singer whether he was not defying travel warnings issued by the United States government declaring Zimbabwe an “unsafe” destination, he appeared puzzled.

He said: “I can wear my jewellery here without fear. This is the most beautiful place to be. All this talk about these places being risky is the problem of the Western media and the perceptions it gives but Akon (American rap artist of Senegalese origin) is putting Africa on the map."

He vowed to return to the Victoria Falls in May.

He added: “We had a wonderful trip to the Victoria Falls and I would like to say that all those who have not yet visited the resort town are missing a lot.

"In America we have the Niagara Falls, but it’s not like the Victoria Falls and my message when I return to America is that, ‘You got to go and see it for yourself’.”
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