By Kennedy Nyavaya
Award-winning musician Jah Prayzah is set to invest tooth and nail into the launch of his yet-to-be named 10th album scheduled for release on April 3, Standard Style has heard.
The internationally-acclaimed singer broke from tradition last year by not releasing an album and is said to have been strategising on how to gain back his mojo amid belief his influence had waned back home owing to perceived political connotations in his music.
In an interview with Standard Style, his manager Keen Mushapaidze said although they were still to agree on the nitty-gritties about the event, they would go all out to produce a project and event better than the past.
“It’s a milestone, 10 albums are not easy to release, so Jah Prayzah is excited and we had to delay because we wanted to bring something that is much better than what we have done before,” said Mushapaidze.
“Even the type of investment we are putting in is more than what we have done before. Not taking anything away from our past projects, but this is special.”
Responding to calls for Jah Prayzah to return to his traditional sound, Mushapaidze said the album, produced by DJ Tamuka and Rodney, would incorporate different sounds to accommodate different tastes among his followership.
“The traditional sound is there, but at the same time we have the modern sound because Jah Prayzah continues to grow and has a diverse following, so having one particular sound can impress one demographic but miss the other,” he said.
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As a teaser to the album, the camp has released a single titled Asante which has been trending since it was posted on online video-sharing platform YouTube last week.
“It [Asante] is part of the album and its release was a thank-you token to our followers because after the Budiriro gig we did not get to thank them for a turnout we had not expected,” said Mushapaidze.
However, as anticipated, some music followers have begun drawing political meaning from the new song amid questions about how Jah Prayzah will shake off political interpretation of his music in the latest album.
“When art comes to the artiste, they present it in its purest form and Jah Prayzah is not any different, but we live in a politically sensitive environment and when we see that our work is vulnerable to political interpretation, we usually change that before release,” Mushapaidze said.
“We cannot completely run away from it or stop it, but we are aware that this is a situation we could find ourselves in.”
