adminhave released their long awaited debut album, Deep Love and Drums.
The album comes two years after Djembe Monks burst onto the local house music scene. Known for their stellar performances which have seen them upstage such seasoned acts as DJ Kent and Zinhle, Djembe Monks are the city’s finest exponents of traditional music blended with urban beats. Besides being DJs in their own right, all the group’s four members are adept at playing African percussions such as the djembe, congas, ngoma, drums and timbales.
Some of the group’s singles that have taken the local music scene by storm include Nyami Nyami, Ngoma yorira and Refugees.
In an interview group member Emmanuel Nkomo, better known as Rootz Kolossal, said the album was the culmination of all the work that they had put into their music over the past two years. He said they had decided to work with some of Bulawayo’s finest artistes on this latest project as they wanted people in the city to identify with their music.
“On this latest album we have tried by all means to be original by making our own sound, instrumentation and melodies. All our featured vocalists are Bulawayo artistes of which four, Gabriel “GabzFyah” Runningz Nyandoro, Simbai Lord Skillz and Otis Ngwabi, are seasoned artistes whose work is already well known,” he said.
Rootz Kolossal said although people were already aware of the music of Djembe Monks, the album was a thank-you gift to their fans for the support they had given to them over the past two years.
“Many people know us through our live performances but we have finally put our work on CD so that people can take us home with them and receive more of our deep ancestral house music wherever they go,” he said.
Rootz Kolossal attributed the group’s reluctance to release an album to the issue of piracy which he said was affecting all artistes. He said that he hoped that the latest album would propel the group, which has already worked with such seasoned artistes such as Black Coffee, Kentphonik, Chiwoniso Maraire, DJ Cleo, Zinhle and Liquideep, to even dizzier heights.
“Piracy is real and it is affecting artistes who are way bigger than us. Back in the day people would boast of owning the largest collection of original records in their shelves but sadly that is not the case nowadays. If given a chance local musicians can reach international standards and we have proven this to be possible in the past three years by performing alongside some of Africa’s most celebrated artistes,” he said.
Online Reporter