Article by: Lindiwe Karosa
Tough times reign over South Africa’s entertainment industry as it attempts to thrive during the nationwide lockdown. In an attempt to encourage citizens to stay at home, Mzansi’s artists came together to create an online event dubbed #QuarantineOnlineParty which has now given birth to The #LockdownHouseParty on Channel O.
Celebrity and entertainer DJ Shimza, together with his friends have introduced a new and innovative method of revenue generation for the entertainment industry. Read more as we uncover how this gig has become a crowd favourite across the country.
Online party or house party?
#QuarantineOnlineParty is an online event that showcased different heavyweight artists on the popular social media app, Facebook. Viewers and fans had the opportunity to join this party by simply streaming their favourite artists’ sets! Unfortunately, the online gig’s reach was representative of only a certain subset of the population – which might’ve prompted the move to a TV channel.
House party it is!
In an era when South Africans are chanting #DataMustFall, it wasn’t long before the Channel O executives saw an opportunity to take this concept directly into people’s homes. A partnership between #QuarantineOnlineParty, Channel O & Hunter’s Cider has produced The Lockdown House Party which now airs every Friday & Saturday during the nationwide lockdown, respectively from 6pm – 12am. Now that is a party!
How will this help to fight Covid-19?
This party firstly intends to keep people entertained in the comfort of their own homes, during the times when going out seems to be a more lucrative option. And secondly, it seeks to create awareness around the constant exercise of good hygiene. We see the latter through the repetitive show of artists’ hands being sanitized, as well as the DJ decks, before and after every set.
Will this compensate for the industry’s losses?
Probably not! The entertainment industry suffered a huge knock because of event cancellations. This ripple effect trickled down to many other stakeholders of this industry, who might not have a role to play in this virtual setting. So with only 12 slots per weekend, there’s only so much air time to go around for artists.
When’s the next party?
Tonight is this week’s last installment, so make sure you’ve got your favourite dancing shoes on! If all goes well, this gig could be the digital go-to event, even after this nationwide lockdown.
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Tags: #QuarantineOnlineParty #LockdownParty #ChannelO #Entertainment
