Album Review: Andy Muridzo - Tichambotenderera

Andy Muridzo had an exceptional 2016, his album Ngarizhambe was a major success mainly due to the massive hits Dherira and Dhafu Dhunda. At the beginning of the year amidst the Bev scandal he was signed to Millitary Touch Movement Record Label headed by superstar and "former" Andy Muridzo competitor Jah Prayzah. With that development I was very eager to see how he will develop going further and fortunately that did not prove to be a long wait because a new album was already in the last phases of production. The album was finally released on the 22nd of March. Have now listened to the album enough to share my views and thoughts.

The track contains 13 tracks and will be doing a track by track review as usual below.

1. Memo

The first track on the album reassures you that the albums is going to be dominated with the usual contemporary traditional sound we expect from Andy Muridzo. The instrumental is structured in a standard way and is quite similar to Tichambotenderera (track 4). The guitar work is done quite well here, great work by the guitarist. Andy Muridzo gave his signature performance on this track. The track is dedicated to Memo, a lady from another world and class who has taken Andy's heart.

2. Yahombarume

The second track switches to an uptempo reggae kind of sound fused with the usual contemporary traditional sound. The end result of the fusion is a lovely instrumental. Andy Muridzo gave his usual signature performance. On this track he is talking about the struggle he faces to keep releasing good music that people can dance to despite the market being filled with many good songs.

3. Chomudziva
Love the intro here. The foundation of the instrumental make me nostalgic, it borrows from an old traditional song. The instrumental is made very well and is sounding good. Andy gets into a Jah Prayzah kind of cryptic mood on the track here, you will need a number of listens before you can understand what the track is about. He also delivered a strong performance on the track. Probably my favourite track on the album.

4. Tichambotenderera

The title is similar to Memo (track 1) but with some very good variations. The contemporary traditional sound gets monotonous very quick and that is why Jah Prayzah's early songs sounded like one song. To avoid being monotonous and generic they added some lovely variations to keep the song alive, from 01:18 to 01:28 then that part from 02:11 - 02:21 then the superb bass guitar from 02:47-03:07 and 03:50 till the end. Those variations and guitar work make this a worthy title track and Andy gave his usual performance on the track. This is a jovial track, its basically about travelling  and having a good time with your partner.

5. Emma feat. Jah Prayzah
This will probably be the lead single from the album, a collaboration between the two is definitely a crowd puller. The track is a fusion of the contemporary traditional sound popularized by Jah Prayzah and some afro beat elements and the end result is an instrumental that is sounding good. Both artists gave good vocal performances, with Jah Prayzah being the more dominant one.

6. Mai Maria

On this track they went for the usual similar structured instrumental, it sounds the same as a number of Jah Prayzah's tracks. This type of structure has made Jah Prayzah into a superstar and a staple sound at nearly all outdoor braai spots all over the country so it works. Love the lead guitar here which comes after the chorus, it just grabs your attention. Andy Muridzo gave his usual signature performance and it fits this type of structure very well. This will be on the playlist at a number of outdoor spots.

7. Merenziana

I feel this is another song that is going to be in the playlist at many outdoor braai spots in the coming months. The structure is perfect for such an environment, its uptempo and catchy. It reminds me of the Ngarizhambe Andy Muridzo, it inherits the sound from his last album. On this track Andy is talking about Merenziana a lady who always drains the joy in his life, she always treats him like a inferior person but all he wants is to give her love. Andy delivered a good performance on this track. Like the track before the track also has some lovely guitar work after the choruses.

8. Dhidhi Remhuru

This track tackles a social issue that causes a lot of debate and fights in families; When a young man falls for an older woman. Such a scenario will cause a lot of commotion in the family, many will try to destroy the relationship and in order for such a relationship to succeed the guy will have to stand strong by his lady and fight for their relationship to continue. Andy delivered some good vocals on the track. The instrumental is sounding nice, live the flute sound incorporated into the song.

9. Rure Rure

The lovely guitar work on the intro gives the track a nice mellow feel to it. The instrumental in overall is made quite well and it will serenade you. This is a track one sings when they have fallen deep in love. The vocals are done well, Andy was on point and the other Zambian guy who was featured also gave the track a lovely feel.

10. Daira

This songs sounds a lot like Merenziana (track 7), it feels like I'm listening to one song, the instrumentals are extremely similar and the vocals also are similar. This in a way shows lack of innovation in sound and lack of dynamism in Andy Muridzo's vocal abilities. The instrumental like the aforementioned clone is sounding good but the lack of innovation just puts me off the track.

11. Kumambube

The lovely guitar greets and ushers you throughout the track. The person in charge of the lead guitar did an awesome job. The overall instrumental is sounding good. The track is a love song by Andy to Tanisha a girl he is crazy about so he is flexing his lines on Tanisha hoping to win her over. Andy was good on the vocals. The song has a very chilled and lovely feel to it, mostly due to the guitar and it definitely fits the theme of the track...it serenades you.

12. Ndirangarirewo

They went for a reggae tip on this jam and it was a good move. The instrumental is sounding very good, love the guitar work, whoever was in charge of the guitar must be given an applause. This track is a personal prayer by Andy, he is asking for protection and favour for many now plot against him because of his talent and success. He also delivered a very good vocal performance matching the superb instrumental. All in all this is a solid jam.

13. Blowing Trumpets

With Dj Tamuka in charge of production, I knew there was gonna be a purely afro beat jam on the album and this is that track. Dj Tamuka is good at this type of music and he did not disappoint on this one, its sounding very good, love the strumpets. The track is a love song to Jenny, Andy is confessing his love to her and he is promising her that he will take good care of her and provide for what she needs. Andy gave his signature performance on the vocals. The track has a catchy and lovely chorus flanked by cliche verses. Like many afro beat songs on the continent it sounds good, catchy chorus and not much in between. Regardless its a song many will be dancing to.

In overall the album is produced well, probably the result of the standard JP Studio setup. It contains some good jams which you can dance to but there is no track that will wow you or make you say to your friends "listen to track number this and that". As a package it's in a way quite solid, the tracks are well balanced, unlike on his last album where only Dherira and Dhafu Dhunda emerged as being way above the rest. The album also contains some good guitar work and Andy's vocals are quite good despite lacking dynamism.

On the downside the album sounds like we have heard it before, the album offers nothing new in terms of structure and arrangement. Couple that with Andy's lack of vocal dynamism the album will quickly start sounding like one song. Also i'm not a fan of artists who just recycle the same instrumental and just changing the theme, (Memo & Tichambotenderera, Merenziana & Daira).

Lastly I believe his move to join the Military Touch Movement  Record Label was going to affect his rise to being among the top 5 artists in the country. Firstly Andy's rise was not because he was better than Jah Prayzah but because he had the potential to challenge and maybe dethrone Jah Prayzah, so everyone who was not a Jah Prayzah fan was behind Andy, they were willing to push Andy's like crazy music just to topple Jah off the top so by joining Jah's record label Andy killed off that competition factor and those "fans" he had acquired will probably just desert Andy. Secondly I did not see any way by which Jah Prayzah's Record label was going to let Andy have a project better than Jah Prayzah's project, you just cannot be better that the boss. Also why was the album launch done on a Wednesday, when people must go to work the next morning....why not the weekend, Friday or Saturday.

In conclusion this is an okay album, loved the guitar work on some tracks but as a whole it's an album I can forget about. It has failed to excite me, maybe because I can no longer compare him to Jah Prayzah the excitement has gone. I had high high hopes for Andy, that may also be the problem. However its not all bad, if he releases some very good visuals he can push his album to a much better level.
My Overall Rating: A, B, C, Poor.

What are your thoughts on the album???

Proud_Zimbo