The Johannesburg-based senior Deejay with internet-based Radio Mthwakazi FM, sang from personal experience as he recorded the 9-track album “Vukani”, released late last year under his middle name – Bashimane.
The album is a mix of various genres and includes collaborations with fellow SA-based artists like Ndodana Ncube, Rebels and Mkhululi Hadebe.
Wholly composed and produced by Bashimane, the offering mainly highlights the plight of an African living in a foreign land, something that has made it resonate with most Zimbabweans, whose estimated quarter of the population live in exiles.
“I have loved music from my boyhood days, although usually I preferred to work behind the scenes,” said Bashimane.
“My decision to come out of the closet was inspired by the disappointments that I got from working with other people, most of who did not even have music at heart. I am a natural artist who communicates better through music and this album is the first step in taking my Shilolo music company to greater heights.”
The album’s main hit songs so far have been “Ekhaya”, a jazz tune done in Ndebele and Shona. It is a lamentation by a Zimbabwean exile missing their homeland. The song “Nkulumane” is a boast by someone who comes from Bulawayo’s high-density suburb, while “Station” is an exile’s promise to their mother of their immediate return home. The other track, “Xenophobia” bemoans hate the daily threat faced by African migrants in South Africa.
Post published in: Entertainment