Josephat grabbed top honours at 2009 video of the year awards, television and radio category with his hit album, This time. The Sungura musician could have easily defended his music championship if his latest album had hit the streets in time for contention for the 2010 awards.
The album landed on the music market a few months before the annual national music awards were announced, as producers had held the album to put in place mechanisms aimed at countering piracy of the album.
Listening to constructive messages and instrumental artistry by Josephat and the Somanje Stars Band, leave his multitudes of fans convinced the seasoned Sungura King would put up serious challenges at future music awards. Somanjes music is maturing with each album.
The album took relatively long to hit the streets as producers were putting in place mechanisms to foil piracy. Piracy remains every artists enemy and everything possible had to be done to at least minimise effects of piracy on our works. I remained hopeful that with enough airplay, people would grasp messages conveyed by the six track album and also enjoy the instrumentals. Prices of albums at producers such as Zimbabwe Music Cooperation, ZMC, were now affordable at $2 a copy. People should support artists through buying genuine and original copies at official distribution outlets. Besides being the legal outlets, original copies sold by official distributors are of high quality than pirates which sell at $1 each. Piracy has left hard working artists worse off and must be stopped at all cost, said Somanje.
He said his fans would appreciate the latest album as its messages gradually sunk in the body and soul of those who dare listen. The six tracks on the album include Tenda Mwari, Pimbirimano, Ini zvangu, Dandemutande, Wamu disapointa and Iwe teyerera. The title track, Tenda Mwari (thank God), urges people to respect God the almighty as there were no mortals equal to him. God is in a class of his own and no living soul should be worshiped like him.
Pimbirimano (destroyer) indirectly reprimands music pirates about the damage they were causing on careers and livelihood of artists. Music Pirates were likened with dig deep holes in the ground as they pursue underground insects and ants for food. The animals would leave vegetation and terrain in a bad state after they have satisfied their ego. Pirates were leaving artists in a sorry state like the damaged terrain.
Dandemutande (spider web) describes the situation of the struggling poor like that of insects trapped in a spider web. They would have no room to manoeuvre and feed on what is available within their confines without much choice.
Iwe teyerera (listen) reminds people that blood is thicker than water. The song warns people against placing too much trust in strangers and friends. Somanje says friends loved each other when things are moving smoothly but when the going gets bad, they would abandon each other. Only relatives stand by their kinsman through thick and thin.
Wamu disapointa (you have disappointed her) discourages husbands from abusing their wives after a long stay together. Somanje says women invest all their love and faith in husbands as permanent partners. Divorce was devastating to women and should be avoided at all costs. He went on to discourage divorced women from hurriedly resorting to prostitution as there would be some remedies to their bartered lives. Parents should be consulted for counselling and other forms of assistance in an event there was a divorce.
The soul searching song, Ini zvangu, (me) asks people why they suddenly turned hostile at a friend. Why cant one forgive his friend if he did something wrong against him. Somanje went on wondering if friendship and trust could be compromised by one minor mistake. On a general note, Somanje, urged people to carefully select words before speaking to avoid offending others and straining relations. He said a single poorly selected word could destroy other peoples lives. The Sungura King also urged married partners not to abuse each other and strive to maintain lasting relationships. His latest album is a must for every household.
Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed rumours that music pirates were searching on the website for keys to unlock encrypted albums and use high technology gadgets to unlock and subject encrypted albums to burning. The imported device used to unlock encrypted albums was estimated to have cost over $60 000. Encryption was the latest strategy employed by music producers to curb music pirating. The process however also delayed launching of new works by artists on the market and could impact negatively on musicians earnings. However, Musicians said it would be better to have delayed albums than lose revenue to pirates.
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