IN spite of the difficult socio- economic challenges the country is facing the much-awaited Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa) roars to life today (2 May 2017) in its traditional six-day format, stretching to Sunday after a one-year sabbatical due to financial constraints and a low sponsor turnout.

The festival that showcases arts and culture in the genres of music, spoken word, applied craft and design, theatre, fashion and dance will be held under the theme Hifa 2017: Staging an Intervention.

The internationally-acclaimed grandee of music Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi headlines the stellar line-up of artistes set to perform at a musical extravaganza to mark the official opening of the festival night at Harare Gardens.

The opening show to be staged under the theme Let Our Song Be Sung, will feature Mtukudzi, Amanda a la Banda from Italy and Grammy nominated Afro-roots star and humanitarian activist, Rocky Dawuni from Ghana.

The festival founder and artistic director, Manuel Bagorro last week while addressing the media in the capital said he was grateful and excited the festival is back, adding he was proud of the programming this year.

“Where the magic of Hifa lives is in the six-day format, that is why we are all back here.

Associate executive director, Tafadzwa Simba said festival-goers should not worry about cash shortages, as they had facilitated the useage of plastic money during the festival. “We have increased the number of point-of-sale machines. So we now have an adequate number and people will not face any hassles,” he said.