Skaivaa��s fight Against All Odds

Bruce Ndlovu
After over three years toiling in the studio as he tries to cook up the right beats that can justify his high billing, multiple Zima award winning house producer Skaiva is finally ready to release his album.

The projecta��s title, Against All Odds, is perhaps the most apt illustration of the producera��s mindset, as he had an uphill battle to put together the album which is set to be released on 14 April.

Despite endorsement from such South African heavyweights as Ganyani and Luloe CafA� and a number of awards on the local scene, Skaiva has not had it all his own way.

According to him, putting together the 14-track album was especially hard because he had to do it all on his own.

a�?Putting together the album was really hard. I had to mix the album myself because it was too expensive to hire a professional to do the mixing and also pay for the equipment that would have given me the sound I was aiming for.

Ia��m not saying that I cana��t mix and master a quality product myself but the overall process was really hard,a�? said the producer.

In this day and age where most of the countrya��s major music labels have collapsed, young artistes are going it alone as they shoulder most of the responsibilities that were otherwise covered by the labels. This, Skaiva said, made the whole process even more difficult for him.

a�?The fact that Ia��m an independent artiste meant that I had to do everything for myself using my own money.A� This makes it very hard because if you do everything on your own somehow in the end you will crash. Luckily I managed to pull through,a�? he said.

Skaiva said such struggles would be reflected in some of the content on the album.

a�?The album is a reflection of what I have been through and what Ia��ve learnt. Ita��s a reflection of what house music means to me. I kept the sound truly and uniquely Skaiva and I didna��t try to be someone else. I tried by all means to be myself and bring out that Skaiva sound to the world,a�? he said.

The Mali Yeqolo hit-maker has become popular for the soulful vocalists that he employs on most of his songs. On this project he went international,A�A� recruiting Lilian from South Africa,A� Joy from the United States andA� United Kingdom-based Oluhle. Four Zimbabwean vocalists, Thandi Muringa, Carlos jiri, Sam Juandex Apongo and Cijay also contributed vocals to the album.

a�?I usually listen to the vocalists on stage when theya��re performing and I check how they write their songs to see if they would be flexible with any beats that I give them. The guys I worked with on this album were perfect,a�? he said.

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