Chronicle Editor
Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
A total of 17 artistes from Bulawayo recently came together to sing about their love for the city on a track titled Masiyephambili.
The single that brings out the unity and resilience of people in the city was put together by multi-award-winning imbube musician, Vusa Mkhaya through his My Guy in Zimbabwe (MGIZ) Publishing company.
It was released on Sunday and is now available for download on several digital stores. The track is already being played on various radio stations.
Featured artistes are Mimie Tarukwana, Mawiza, Lady Tshawe, Cingi, Novuyo Seagirl, Vuyo Brown, Qeqeshiwe, Asaph, Taz, Njabulo Moyo, Lamas Ellz, T3rry Tempo, Killemol, Desire Moyoxide, Erastas Nleya, Mthabisi Moyo and Joel Nyoni.
The track is a mixture of hip hop, kwaito, spoken word, Afro jazz with the artistes all singing about the beauty of the city. Poet Desire Moyoxide gives a monologue at the beginning of the song over a jazzy melody before the chorus Asilahl’ithemba, thina singa bakoBulawayo that embodies the lyrics of the song.
Vusa Mkhaya who is based in Austria said he decided to work on the song in order to show the unity and resilience of artistes and citizens of Bulawayo. But most importantly, he wanted to unite the city’s artistes.
“The inspiration came from uniting artistes of all genres and ages. In these days of social media and technology, I believe we should take advantage and use these things to push and promote ourselves.
“As part of this initiative, the team at MGIZ and I came up with an idea of producing a song that would celebrate Bulawayo and its resilience. That’s how Masiyephambili was born,” said Vusa Mkhaya.
He said he handpicked the artistes for variety.
“We wanted different genres to mix on one song. I composed the song and wrote the chorus and a few verses then gave it to the artists to add their lyrics,” said Vusa Mkhaya.
In order to include as many artistes, Vusa Mkhaya said he would do an open call for artistes to be part of such initiatives.
Mimie Tarukwana, speaking about her experience on the record said she was glad to have worked with talented artistes.
“It was an amazing experience. It was my first time to work with and meet other artistes that were featured on the song so I must say, it was a unifying collaboration. At first, I was a bit nervous about being on the track with such talented artistes, but they calmed me down and we all worked well together,” said Mimie.
A video for the single is set to be released this week. — @bonganinkunzi
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