Online Reporter
Bruce Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
THERE is a part on Umjolo, the title track of musician Jeys Marabini’s 10th studio album, which the musician insists he was pressured, if not forced, into singing by those in the studio with him at the time of its making.
When he speaks about this part or the song in general, Marabini breaks down in laughter.
That particular section, he said, was not his idea, but the brainchild of a young group of musicians led by producer Nathaniel Chipunza, better known as Oktopus.
They convinced him that without it, the album would lack the punch it needed to dazzle listeners. Not only did Oktopus succeed in convincing Marabini to sing this part, but the song ended up becoming the album’s title track.
For Oktopus and the other young musicians who helped Marabini craft his 10th effort, this was a noteworthy coup d’état.
They managed to convince the veteran musician to break out of his shell and explore sounds and topics he had never touched on in his career before.
For Marabini, singing that part and allowing the song to be the title track demonstrated his willingness to fully embrace the new generation. This was a resolution he had already made long ago when he decided that his latest album, set for release on 31 July, would be a fusion of the old and the new.
“I am from a different generation, and that is why I decided to rope these guys into the process,” he told Sunday Life in an interview.
“I want to bring something new to the table and that means making a fusion of what these young people like and the music I have always been making. I want to bring something fresh while at the same time maintaining my trademark as Jeys Marabini.”
Marabini revealed that the making of the album had not been easy, as he sometimes found himself exchanging harsh words with the cast of young musicians he had surrounded himself with.
“This album is very important to me because it is my 10th and I had to put a lot of effort into it. I have now reached double digits as an artiste and this is a sign of my growth. That is why I put a lot of young people on this because I felt that they could give me the energetic impetus I needed for such a project,” he explained.
“These boys were harassing me in the studio, making me sing about things that I had never done before. Sometimes, we would stop mid-song in the studio and I would tell them that I could not sing what they were asking me to sing about. My producer would say, ‘This is what we are doing and there are no two ways about it.’ I ended up enjoying the process and I am happy with the quality that we eventually cooked up,” he said.
While the topics covered in the 10-track effort would come as a shock to older Marabini fans, the veteran musician said that subject matter was not the only thing that changed, as he embraced the use of new instruments in his songs.
Seven years after the release of his last album, Marabini expressed satisfaction that he had taken his time with an effort he believes will redefine him.
“This is my 10th album and it has 10 songs for a reason. The last time I released an album was in 2018 and that is fitting because I take my time when I am making an album. I never release anything that I am not satisfied with because I, together with my team, are the first people to get a taste of the music. If we are happy, then we can release it so that people can appreciate and enjoy the music,” he said.
“It has been a long journey, but I believe it was worth it. The songs are unique, the message is unique and the style is unique. I have included new things, like brass instrumentation. Some songs appeal to the young, the 2Ks, as they are called, and some songs appeal to the middle-aged. We also have songs that appeal to older people,” he said.
While Marabini has been stingy with visuals in the past, only making videos for his most loved songs, this has not been the case with Umjolo.
All its tracks will receive dedicated music videos.
“This is the first time that I have done videos for all songs in an album and this is because I also want to move with the times. I have noticed that fans want visuals accompanying the music, and that is why we have gone through this route.
“The quality of the music also dictated this because I believe all the songs are equally good, and in the end, I was at a loss because I could not choose which ones I wanted to make videos for. To me and the team, we felt that we should leave it up to the people to decide which ones are their favourites,” he said.
Breaking further with tradition, Marabini has decided that while his album will be released on 31 July, it will not be accompanied by an extravagant launch event, as has become prevalent in Zimbabwean music.
Instead, the jazz maestro said he would bide his time and wait for people to become truly familiar with the songs before officially launching them.
“When it comes to the launch, we wanted to reverse the usual order of things. We want to give people time with the songs so that they can choose their favourites.
“When people are familiar with the songs and we can do a sing-along, then I think we can do a live show. I felt that presenting an album of songs that people are not familiar with defeats the spirit of a live show,” he concluded.
