I have been embraced, says Dudu

Standard People
BY MUNYA SIMANGO   Dynamic Dudu Manhenga raises the standard every time she releases an album. Her fourth offering, entitled Ngangiwe (I have been embraced) is a refreshing Afrocentric work with elements of blues and soul. 

The album interacts with the listener at a deeper level. It is laid-back and mature; a reflection of how the songstress has grown over the years.

 

Ngangiwe was recorded live at the Thistle Room, a club in Bulawayo where she performed in front of a cosmopolitan crowd of all races.

 

“The response at that show was fantastic, it made me feel so embraced by the community that raised me that I felt Ngangiwe would be an appropriate title for the album,” said Dudu in an interview recently.

 

The predominant theme of the home-grown album is relationships. It carries some sing along songs performed in a deep African jazz style. Some of the songs are familiar to fans as she has performed them at live shows over the years.

 

The song Silobela is a groovy, jazzed up version of a Ndebele song that Manhenga grew up hearing in her neighbourhood. It is a fusion of both Ndebele and Shona vibes and it tells a story of merging cultures, colonial times, of women and cattle. Silobela is a rural area in Zimbabwe’s Midlands province where the Shona and Ndebele cultures merge as the people have co-existed for over a century.

 

The Bass is Melodic is an instrumental that convincingly brings out the melodic side of the bass guitar. Composed and ably performed by Enock Piroro, featuring Dudu’s trademark skating.

 

Handidi (I don’t want) is about how love should be a free offering. The singer says that sometimes love can be a painful when one gives love that is not reciprocated. Izithembiso (Promises) is a love song about delivering love without conditions or questions.

 

The track Mupini Mugomo is a jazz rendition of a traditional song from days past. It is part of the Dudu’s cultural project aimed at reinterpreting and preserving Zimbabwe’s musical heritage.

 

The 10-track album also carries Victory Chant, Turn, Kutheni (What has happened?), Umona and Kuneta. It also features the talents of Blessing Muparutsa (drums and vocals), Enock Piroro (bass and vocals), Nicolas Nare (keyboards and vocals), Othinnel Moyo (percussion), Victor Muparutsa, Clive Manhenga and Tamie Bimha.