adminAFRO Jazz musician Alexio Kawara seems to be struggling to come up with another song that surpasses Shaina. In 2013, the artiste, who has five albums to his name promised he would release another album — Oyi, but two years down the line, the musician has failed to drop the 12-track album.
Though he dropped a single — Zvazvinhu off the forthcoming album, Kawara keeps insisting the rest of the album will be released “soon”. The musician, who launched his music career in 1999 with the release of hit track — Amai, last released an album — Tose in 2011.
Some critics have suggested that the musician fears to join a bandwagon of musicians that have released albums and failed to make an impact on the local scene due to stiff competition from Zim dancehall and other established musicians.
His manager Farirai Chavura said the forthcoming album was taking long to be released as they were paying attention to detail because they want it to be a high quality product, in order for Kawara to match international standards.
“It’s been a while since we promised a new offering to our fans, but honestly, we’re working on something that’s of international standards, something that people will enjoy.
“It’s not like we’re afraid that we’ll not be able to surpass the standards that we once set. It was Alexio who released that hit Shaina and that means he can still match or surpass that standard. It’s only that we don’t want to give our fans a half-baked album, so we’re taking our time and once it’s out, people will realise that it was worth the long wait,” Chavura said.
She said Kawara’s injury last year had also held production of the album.
“Alexio was involved in a car accident last year where he broke his leg. He was operated and was told to take a break for six months which left us with no option but to postpone the release of the album,” Chavura said.
However, work on the forthcoming album which will feature Roki is almost complete with the producer now mastering the music. They hope to release the album in July.
“All the songs on the album are done. We’ve engaged the services of a foreign producer who’s supposed to do the mastering of the product, so he is yet to work on it.”
Questioned on why they had called on the services of an international producer, shunning locals, Chavura said: “It’s not like we’re running away from our own producers, but we’re looking for the best and we found it outside, nothing much.”
Tracks off the forthcoming album have been received well by the public during Kawara’s live performances. Some of the tracks to look out for are Zvazvinhu, a collaboration with Beitbridge based ELL-T and Chakaipa — a collaboration with Roki.
Kawara said the album would be a gift to his fans for supporting him during the 15 years of his music career.
It remains to be seen if the album will finally be released this year. — Harare Bureau/Showbiz Reporter.
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