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Michael Magoronga, Midlands Correspondent
Urban grooves pioneer and crooner, Rockford “Roki” Josphats says his forthcoming project will be focused on reviving the almost forgotten urban grooves genre so that it suits the current musical trends.
In a wide-ranging interview after a scintillating performance at the Miss Bodylicious pageant in Kwekwe last Saturday, Roki said he was working on a DVD album that is set to give the urban grooves genre a new taste.
“We want to give urban grooves a new African sound. We’re embarking on what we call urban crossover which will see us giving urban grooves a fresh sound that’ll take on international music,” said Roki.
He said the six-track video album will be released in phases.
“I’m working on a six-track video album but I’ll be dropping singles as we go. I’ll start by dropping three singles, Let her go, Tsebede and Christmas before Christmas so that we give our fans something to dance to during the festive season,” said Roki.
On the project, Roki said he had engaged Zimdancehall chanter, Soul Jah Love, as well as some international artistes.
The video project will be Roki’s first after his return from South Africa earlier this year, where he had set base.
“This will be my first project following my return and I want it to be massive. We want to invade the market with the new afro-beat that’ll, however, be linked to urban grooves,” said Roki.
Roki, together with ExQ, Leonard Mapfumo, Decibel, Tererai Mugwadi, Betty Makaya, Stunner, 2BG, and Alexio Kawara were part of the urban grooves movement that took the music industry by storm in the early 2000s.
The introduction of Zimdancehall has eclipsed the genre but a few artistes such as ExQ and Stunner have managed to claim their share.
derick.khumalo