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Kundai Marunya
Arts Correspondent
Local afro-fusion music duo, Bantu Spaceship, is set to perform at the highly rated MTN Bushfire Festival to be held in Eswatini in May.
Armed with a self-titled debut album which will be released on digital platforms on March 10, the duo is the only local band to feature on this year’s festival line-up.
A member of Bantu Spaceship, Ulenni Okandlovu, said they were ecstatic to be selected for the festival.
“We were scouted to perform at the festival,” he said.
“The festival organisers heard our music and recommended us as a band with the sound shifting the sound space. As a group, it means a lot and we are so excited about it.
“It came at the same time we are promoting our debut album that we been working on with Nyami Nyami Records.”
Bantu Spaceship performs at the same stage with celebrated acts drawn from different parts of the globe, including South Africa’s Sho Majozi, Black Motion, Jack Parrow, Ami Faku; Lesotho’s Maleh, Malawi’s Daliso Chaponda and United States’ The Divebombers, among many others.
Okandlovu said the performance was a great endorsement for the band.
“It’s a great opportunity to be on that line up with bands and artistes that we respect and are fans of,” he said.
“Sharing stage with them is a great opportunity, and we are grateful to Bushfire for believing in us.”
Okandlovu said the festival was the duo’s first international endeavour as a group.
“This will be our first international show as a band, but we have done solo projects on international stage,” he said.
“As multi-faceted artistes, we often explore a lot of mediums and platforms.”
Bantu Spaceship is an afro-electronic music duo consisting of vocalist, songwriter and fashionista Okandlovu from Bulawayo and Joshua Chiundiza, who is a DJ and producer from Harare. The duo presents a hybrid sound, merging electro, hip hop and rap, with mbaqanga, imbube, sungura, jiti, Chimurenga and other Bantu music styles.
Specifically borrowing elements from their Ndebele and Shona heritage, the duo blends two of Zimbabwe’s most dominant cultures into one foretelling and uncharted soundscape.
Chiundiza, who is also the proprietor of Husikisiki Studio’s work explores the sonic, visual and spiritual aspects of his Chewa, Shona and Nguni heritage, taking on the form of music/sound recordings and performances, video art and performance art installation.
He is also co-founder of The Monkey Nuts, an experimental art collective also based in Harare.
Okandlovu is a multifaceted artist who has previously collaborated with Polish producer DJ Sick on the single “Nkanyezi Yami” in 2019.
As a media personality, he has edited and directed the popular local television youth show “Ndeipi Geng’a” for ZBC TV.
Bantu Spaceship are the first local artistes of their generation to avail an album on vinyl, something even the legends have long abandoned for over a decade.
Vinyl, closely linked to the past, makes sense for the collectable album which intentionally takes listeners on a journey through time, a feel of the past and a sound for the future.
MTN Bushfire festival is a celebrated international festival held annually in the kngdom of Eswatini.
It has in the past hosted celebrated Zimbabwean musicians such as Jah Prayzah and Mokoomba.
Online Reporter