After 20 years in the business, performing with groups including Zasha, Khumbula and Lucky Dube’s band, SKIPPER SHABALALA has released his debut solo album, Bekezela (Persevere).
And fans are sure to be won over, the sound being contemporary with an injection of traditional fusion/jazz and maskandi.
“The fusion of different music elements with my Zulu traditional way of singing has resulted in a fresh sound. Each song brings its own meaning to the album,” says the performer who, in 1986, formed the popular group Zasha.
It was Zasha that produced the hit track Bricka Bhova and backed top acts such as Kamazu, Ali Kat, Chicco and Rebecca Malope.
After nine years with the band, Shabalala joined the late reggae master Lucky Dube’s band in 1995 as lead guitarist, and featured on albums such as Taxman, The Way It Is, Soultaker and Respect.
A natural on the stage, and noted for being a hard worker, he assumed the role of Dube’s band leader and toured the world with the late reggae great, sharing stages with musical giants such as Michael Jackson, Burning Spear, UB40, Peter Gabriel, Shaggy and Ziggy Marley.
He has also worked with talents such as Mr Caiphu, Mama Leta Mbulu, Siphokazi and Eddy Grant.
In 2000, together with three other talented musicians, Shabalala formed the Afro-traditional group Khumbula, appearing as lead guitarist, main vocalist and band leader.
Khumbula’s debut album, Bayakhuluma, proved popular and, to show they were no one-album wonder, they followed this up a year later with a powerful second album, Khetha (Choose).
Shabalala’s popular Afro-beat style combines traditional maskanda guitar rhythms and good vocal interplay, all with an exotic, delicate north African ingredient.
The music on the album – 13 tracks are offered – shows deep respect for the traditions with which Shabalala grew up, while the vocal arrangements keep the music fresh and relevant to a new generation.
Standout tracks include the opening Intandane, Dankie Mzansi, Phezulu, Uzube Nami and Mangingene.
Still talking things local, a new CD-DVD package labelled as “the official SA hip hop compilation” has been released by EMI Music, and should prove very popular.
Titled ENTERTAINERS VOLUME 1, the audio disc is split into two sections, Dancefloor and Lounge, the former offering among its 14 tracks Jozi’s Turn It Up, JR’s iconic and still-catchy Show Dem, Prokid’s Uthini Ngo Pro, Molemi’s Manong and Tumi (featuring Bricks and Tracey Lee) with Bambezela.
Also offered are tracks by Teargas, Tuks, Zeus, 985, Zubz, and Octave Couplet (featuring Hydro), among others.
Best of the five tracks in the Lounge section are Zulu Boy’s Ntombenhle, L Tido’s Calling and Wikid’s Ooh Baby.
The DVD features 15 videos, among them tracks by HHP, Proverb, Young Nations , Khuli Chana, Prokid and Jozi.
Also new on CD store shelves is GRAMMY NOMINEES 2011, featuring highlights from this year’s Grammy contenders.
Nineteen tracks are on offer, among them Lady Antebellum’s memorable Need You Now, which was nominated for Record of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year, and cleaned up at the Grammys.
Other highpoints are the very catchy Eminem and Rihanna collaboration, Love the Way You Lie, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s Whataya Want From Me and this reviewer’s choice of the top song of 2010, Bruno Mars’s Just the Way You Are.
The compilation also features Lady Gaga and Beyonce’s Telephone, John Mayer’s and Taylor Swift’s Half of My Heart, Maroon 5’s catchy Misery, Arcade Fire’s Ready To Start, Paramore’s The Only Exception, Michael Buble’s Haven’t Met You Yet and Katy Perry’s and Snoop Dogg’s California Gurls.
Also contained on this album are hit picks by Cee Lo Green, B o B with Bruno Mars, Ray Lamontagne and the Pariah Dogs, Michael Jackson, Miranda Lambert, Sade, Train and the hugely talented cast of television’s Glee.
Another new release attracting attention is Progress, the third post-comeback album from British boy-turned-man band Take That and, with the recent return to the fold of Robbie Williams, the outfit’s first as a quartet since 1995.
A 10-song package, it was produced by Stuart Price, who has worked with Madonna, Scissor Sisters and Kylie Minogue.
It has met with glowing reviews and, as more than one reviewer has already observed, it impresses by moving on from safe, sweet, sentimental and predictable to surprise with dark synth-pop, some grinding electro, and lyrics that cover topics such as serpents, narcissism and cellphones.
Williams takes lead vocals on seven of the 10 tracks, which is a bit of a disappointment as Gary Barlow has a great voice.
Among highlights are two offbeat but beguiling electro-rock offerings, SOS and Kidz; the melancholic piano ballad Wait, and the catchy Happy Now, which rests a hushed lullaby over a poppy dance beat.
The collection also contains the grandiose hit single The Flood, which opens the package.
Finally, if you loved Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, you are sure to be delighted to know that the rich, strong voice behind that hit, CEE LO GREEN, has now gone solo under his one name with a hit album titled The Lady Killer.
Thomas DeCarlo Callaway, to give his birth name, is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer who originally found fame as a member of the US hip hop group Goodie Mob, later forming the duo Gnarls Barkley with DJ and producer Danger Mouse.
His latest album contains 14 tracks and is of note for the driving Forget You (better known released with an Anglo-Saxon expletive replacing the word “forget” in the title), a kiss-off to a former girlfriend.
The number earned Green Grammy Award nominations for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and is reportedly the biggest pop hit the American South has produced since Outkasts’ Hey Ya!
The 36-year-old Atlanta-born son of church ministers has gone on record to state of the collection: “I suppose this is a more clear, concise, consistent, conceptual, entire album.
“It’s a complete thought, because it’s written to be like a score.”
He adds that the album, certified gold in the UK in December, is meant “to be like a motion picture”.
Indeed, it does seem so, starting with a spoken-word intro (in which he tells us his name is “not important”) and going on to offer instrumental oubursts, loads of strings and a loose storyline.
Singing about relationships, with a lot of soul, he offers a fine collection of songs, titles including Bright Lights Bigger City, Wildflower, Cry Baby, Fool For You and Old Fashioned.
WIn! Win! Win!
TO PUT yourself in line to win a copy of the new Cee Lo Green CD, reviewed today, SMS “Cee Lo”, and your own name, to 31455 by 8am on Monday. SMSes are at normal rates.