Proud Zimbo [Anhu Acho]

Its been a superb couple of weeks for me, two albums I have been waiting for all dropped. First it was Alexio's Oyi and now Victor Kunonga's Ndatsva. Am definitely spoiled for choice. Victor has been hinting of this project for some time and he has finally delivered. He is one of the best Afro jazz/Afro fusion artists we have in Zim, he has been in the game for years and has delivered some super relaxing and amazing jams over time. He does not have a loud personality, he loves to let his music do the speaking for him and has a loads of fans all over the nation. This new album is a follow up to Kwedu an album I LOVED to bits. On Kwedu Victor fully branched out into the Afro fusion genre, he evolved from the mellow calming sound on his past albums (Uyo, Such is Life & Handinete) and I loved it. From then was waiting to see how he was gonna further develop his sound. The album is now here, have got my copy and will be sharing with you my thoughts and views on the album.

When it comes to songwriting Alexio can as well be the best among all the young urban artists in the country since the start of the urban grooves movement era. He has been in the industry for more than 15 years and has delivered countless classics over the years with tracks such as; Chibugubugu, Ndinomhanya, Karwiyo, Shaina, Tinodanana, Musikana Akanaka, Chihwandehwande, Umu, ZvaZvinhu, Nyaya Yerudo ..just to mention a few. His last album Tose is one of my favourite albums, have listened to it a looot and can now sing word to word to every song on the album. Have been waiting for a follow up project since then, Tose was released in 2012 so yo can imagine how long a wait it has been. Finally the new album has been released, he teased us with the beautiful Nehana two years back and left us hanging till now. Alexio is regarded as one of the finest artists we have in the nation despite the fact that he rarely hogs the headlines, his music always speaks for him and that has earned him

Yesterday one of my favorite artists Dereck Mpofu dropped a new track; Chimbozvizunza featuring Baba Harare, Master Shekko and Bev. The track is outside his normal sound, he went the house route and he also left his usual socially conscious lyrics for some shallow playful, naughty lyrics and that got many people enraged in the YouTube comments section. This re-ignited an argument I had with a couple of friends some time back; Why do us Zimbos love and celebrate shallow tracks and lyrics from foreign artists but crucify our own for doing the same??? This has baffled me for so long, when a local artist releases one of those shallow, playful, naughty, explicit, crazy tracks they are castrated for it but those same people condemning the artist have countless similar songs by foreign artists in their phone!!!. It makes no sense to me, why are our local artists subjected to tougher restrictions and satndards as compared to their foreign counterparts?? is it an issue of language?, is it

My love for local music goes back to growing up in the urban grooves era, I was fortunate enough to have grown at the same time urban music grew in Zimbabwe. Since my childhood days was already sold on the potential of local artists and that belief remains up to now. That love grew deeper from the moment I attended my first live show, it opened me up to a different level of appreciation for music. I then understood those who say listening music live in unmatched. Music is entertainment so the artist has to be an entertainer. Being a great entertainer will create a greater legacy for an artist than being one who just makes songs that sound good on radio As I grew my music taste and preferences also evolved. I began to appreciate more those artists that record and perform with live instruments. There is a certain amount of magic that can only be found from live instruments. As I got into my twenties I ventured into a personal journey of listening to a lot of the so called legendary

The recent massive load-shedding has made listening to the radio my main source of external entertainment. Have always been a fan of radio but these days am listening to it more that I usually do. Radio provides me an escape from my ow music library and playlist, I get to enjoy someone's else playlist and get involved in various interesting topic conversations. Above all what I love about listening to the radio is I get to discover new interesting artists. Currently have been listening to So Profound a lot ( he plays   Sunday [10-12am], then 9pm-12pm on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday ) and he has been introducing me to a lot of local soulful artists that I had no idea of. One artist that I have been introduced to and fell in love with the most is Masa Caroleen. I first knew about the name last year during the Jacaranda Music Festival, I always attend these music festivals to experience those relatively unknown artists however due to some distractions ( buying alcohol ) did no

Mbeu has been in fine form since he dropped his reggae singles collection in 2017, superb reggae tracks such as Mavanga , Emma , Kuti Unzi , Ndapfugama ..etc made Mbeu an instant darling for many reggae fans.  He  further solidified his status as one of the brightest musical acts in the nation with his super beautiful 2018 debut Hatizvimirire album which was and is still a marvel to listen to. On that album he changed to a more Afro jazz, Afro fusion sound, which opened up many doors for him and won him loads of fans. Reviewed the album and it went on to become my top album of 2018, it's beautiful piece of art. Hatizvimirire coupled with good management made sure Mbeu was one of the most sought after act in the country in 2018, he performed at countless events making sure his music is known in as many corners of the nation as possible. At the beginning of the year Mbeu's mentor and legendary artist Dr Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi sadly passed away. Mbeu was then chose

Freeman has been in the music game for more than 10 years now and has been one of the most consistent artists in the genre since its inception, only Winky D can be said to be more consistent. When it however comes to albums Freeman is arguably the best in the game, many dancehall artists fail dismally when it comes to albums so  they concentrate more on singles. His last album Mukuru Wekambani was quite a solid project, made a review of it and you can read it here : Mukuru Wekambani Album Review . After some months of teasing and hyping his project he has released a follow up project and as usual got my copy and will now be sharing with you my thoughts and views on the project. Whilst doing the review noticed that Freeman now has website where you can learn and remain updated on the HKD Boss's every move, visit the site : Freeman.com . As usual will be doing a tack by track review 1. Gango...[prod by Cymplex] The first and title track of the album is on a reggae tip a

Ishan has been the revelation of the year, he straight up came out of nowhere and is now dominating the music game with his monster jam Kure which features another high flying artist Ti Gonzi. This track worked it's way towards the top winning fans one at a time, it's a true definition of how good music will always rise to the top regardless of the artist being an unknown, cream always rises to the top.  This track brought a refreshing vibe to the industry which many are loving. Judging by the first half of the year, there is no track which has received as much love as Kure , yes there are a number of other urban jams currently getting a lot of love; (Takura's Zvemoyo , Tamy's Kwandinobva , Leonard Mapfumo's Masimukiro , ASAPH's V.I.C , Ti Gonzi's Mabazooker Enzo nemaPumacol ...just to mention a few) but none is as big as Kure . One strength of the track was that it came with some refreshing and entertaining visuals which made it a complete package.

I have been waiting for this album for more than two years now, if you go back to my "10 Projects I Am Looking Forward To" series that I compile and publish at the beginning of each year you will see Hope Masike has been appearing for some time. I am a huge fan of Hope and I was anxious to see whether she was gonna live up to the Mbira Queen title, of you have been following Zim music, you know being coined the Mbira Queen is a massive position, all those who have been given that title are regarded as musical Legends, it started with Mbuya Stella Chiweshe, then it was passed on the the iconic Sister Chiwoniso Maraire and now the onus is on Hope Masike.  I have many expectations for this project so when it dropped I immediately jumped onto Spotify and started listening. When it comes to Hope Masike, I love how she pushes herself musically, artistically, she is daring to experiment so you will not really not know what to expect, you just know you're in for an experienc