Youthful Mokoomba comes of age

The 12-track album is a musical journey through Africa and beyond, and is told through folklore from the Zambezi Valley in Tonga, Luvale, Nyanja and Ndebele languages. The audience was kept on its feet by the strong rhythmic and melodic tunes as the group played live all tunes from the new album. What made it more interesting is the fact that each of the six-member group can play an instrument, or sing and dance at the same time.
Rising Tide is Mokoomba’s second album and the first professional international CD for a very young band whose oldest member is just 25.
Ever since being discovered by the Music Crossroads Inter-regional Festival in 2008, Mokoomba have not looked back. After recording their debut album Kweseka (Drifting Ahead) in 2009, the group had a highly successful European tour between October and November the same year.
Listening to the band for the first time, one can easily mistake lead vocalist, Mathias Muzaza’s melodic voice to the legendary Salif Keita of Mali or the Senegalese icon, Baaba Maal. Muzaza’s composing genius becomes a funnel for every musical nutrient available and is transformed into vigorous and powerful anthems like Manunge or the playful and ironic ditties like Njoka and Yombe. Other hits to look out for on the new album are Masangango, Mangondo, Nimukonda and the highly danceable Welelye.
Muzaza’s expansive and versatile vocals navigate the band’s members formed by Trust Samende’s guitar, Abundance Mutori’s bass and Donald Moyo’s keyboards, which take the band on a musical journey from Binga to Mali, Teheran and Madrid complemented by Miti Mugande on percussion and drummer, Coster Moyo.
The jemba drums, complemented by the whistle, gong and other indigenous Tonga instruments, are fused with electric guitar, keyboard, percussion and drums to bring out some highly melodic and rhythmic tunes, similar to the West African beat.
“Rising Tide is a tsunami of energy, passion and spiritual force. It delivers music that has neither genre nor geographic or demographic boundaries. It is compelling, thrilling and undeniable. It is a showcase of depth and creative potential that cannot fail to continue delivering in the future and announces Mokoomba’s arrival and it’s claim to its rightful place as young stars on the world stage,” says the group’s manager, Marcus Gora.
Describing Mokoomba’s type of music is an arduous task for Gora, who believes that in a music industry where fitting into a genre has become a commercial imperative, mediocrity has also become commonplace.
“Luckily, Mokoomba does not care. They don’t care that people do not expect to hear Spanish
guitar from a band hailing from Binga and Victoria Falls, singing in Luvale, Nyanja and Tonga. It is this factor, together with originality, that makes this young band special,” he says.
On Rising Tide, Mokoomba collaborated with Manou Gallo (Ivory Coast/Belgium), as producer, whose hand adds international quality and a subtle support in developing the West African accents in on the album on tracks like Masangango and Misozi. The album was recorded in Belgium, Ivory Coast and Zimbabwe and features 13 guest musicians and friends from around the world.
Mokoomba was formed in 2008 by the late Alfred Mjimba, a legendary Tonga guitarist, as a feeder to his band, Koomboka. Four years later, after an African tour, two European tours and a string of collaborations with top DJs like Gregor Salto, the sextet are now seasoned professionals asserting their versatility and musicianship with urgency and an imperative to be heard by all.
The name Mokoomba stems from the deep respect that the Tonga people have for the Zambezi River and for the vibrant life that it brings to their music and culture.