Reggae Wailer pops back better than ever

This Gweru based musician produced several heart touching and thought provoking reggae tunes and lyrics that had many with an ear for music singing along.

The musician’s publicity manager, Brenna Matendera told this journalist at a press briefing at Midlands Hotel that Uncle Joe, as Wailer is affectionately known, has bounced back into full time music making after having taken a four year sabbatical.

“Being one of the few remaining Roots Reggae artists, he is already in the studio finalising his sixth album titled The Solution that is expected to be out next month.” Matendere further described Wailer is a deeply spiritual person who draws a lot of inspiration from the late reggae legend Joseph Hills of the group Culture.

“Just like Joseph Hills, Wailer sings more about peace, love, harmony and equal rights. His music deals with people’s everyday lives and aspirations, including the spiritual side of Christianity and with the honouring of Almighty God,” Matendere said.

Wailer, who is also the founder of the Midlands Arts and Culture Festival, has five albums under his belt. The talented musician fell in love with reggae music while at high school.  In 2014 Wailer recorded his first album entitled Beautiful Zimbabwe which featured hit songs like Judgement Day and the title track Beautiful Zimbabwe. This album, produced by Tony G at Baseline Studio in Gweru won the hearts of many international reggae fans.

In a press statement Wailer said; “In 2005, I released a scorcher album entitled Unite Africa featuring the songs Lord Have Mercy and Beautiful Woman. I performed songs from the album at various unity galas organised by the Ministry of Information throughout the country.”

Wailer’s four musical videos received their fair share of airplay on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation television station (ZTV).

His album Rise and Shine, released in 2010 earned Wailer international recognition. Rise and Shine is a deeply spiritual song that he dedicated to the Soccer World Cup hosted by South Africa.

“This album earned me an International marketing contract with Evolution Music Management based in New York and then In , I released Proud to be Rasta produced by Mad Nettol. It featured the song Chant down Babylon that earned massive air time on international reggae stations,’’ he said.

In the same year Wailer was invited to perform in Jamaica at the Marcus Garvey Commemorations where he shared the stage with celebrated reggae torch bearers like Luciano, Morgan Heritage and Sizzler Kalonje.

On his latest album, this Gweru based musician and sings a song dedicated to his International Manager Theresa Kemp entitled Mama T.

The song is available on YouTube. Efforts by this journalist to contact Wailer’s international or Ms Kemp were not successful.