Chipanga unleashes second solo effort

“I wanted to take my time and release an album from the heart and also make sure it would speak to the listener emotively,”

MUSICIAN Charles Chipanga has released his second solo album ever since his move along with his wife Namatayi Mubariki-Chipanga from the Oliver Mtukudzi led Black Spirits.
After earth shattering pieces of musical gems from his first album, which included chart toppers like the duet with Suluman Chimbetu entitled Talk To Somebody as well as Gore Rangu, the challenge was always whether Chipanga would come back and prove not to be a one hit wonder.
He has unleashed another scorcher entitled Goodness, which is yet another spiritually laden effort with the great hallmarks listeners have always come to expect from the marimba artiste-cum-percussionist-cum-vocalist.
“I wanted to take my time and release an album from the heart and also make sure it would speak to the listener emotively,” said Charles.
And that his album has done effortlessly.
With an amazing musical odyssey of sound and lyrics, Chipanga’s eleven-track album contains a rich tortilla of marimba, percussion and bass line. Add to that an out of this world addition of saxophone from arguably the best young saxophonist in the nation, Osborne Matenganzara, and the music touches the soul without doubt.
None better a song to tell that tale of magic than the track entitled Mututu, in which the marimba wizardry of the old world instruments is blended with the new world sound courtesy of the saxophone and sweet vocals from Namatayi shadowing her husband’s voice in an electrifying catchy hook.
“I love to make music for the mature ear and the spiritual lyricism is something that is inborn, I love to tell tales from the human experience as well as from exemplary texts like the Bible as well as basic tenets of being good to one another as well as persevering,” said Chipanga.
It is in that sense in which he addresses multiple didactic issues that he calls himself a didactic artiste as opposed o a gospel musician, which, for his genre and jazzy world approach would be confining him into a pigeon hole.
But he has also scored a first on this album. The track Ndezvamwari features Charles Charamba in what is arguably his first duet with an artiste other than his wife for a commercial project.
“I loved working with baba (Charamba) because I have always revered him and his mature approach to music. It also helps that he has a good heart and soul and lives the life he preaches in his music. Having him on my track was a dream come true,” gushed Charles and with good reason.
With tracks such as Kunamata, Mwari Chete and Mira Hako, the album is set to elevate Charles Chipanga and his Chalenam brand to a higher level of national musical recognition. With the music he has made in the past demanding that he has follow ups which confirm that he is no fluke, Charles Chipanga has proven he is here to stay and is not a one hit wonder. If anything he has evolved into a genius of nuclear proportions.