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01. Mokoomba - Tamvela Mama
02. Mokoomba - Nyansola
03. Mokoomba - Ndipe
04. Mokoomba - Manina feat. Ulethu
05. Mokoomba - Munaye
06. Mokoomba - Makisi
07. Mokoomba - Bakalubale
08. Mokoomba - Kandonga
09. Mokoomba - Nzara Hapana
10. Mokoomba - Makolo feat. Desolo B
11. Mokoomba - Kulindiswe (Remix)
12. Mokoomba - Njawane (Remix)
13. Mokoomba - Kumukanda (Remix)
ARTIST
TITLE
Tusona: Tracings in the Sand
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
OH 037CD OH 037CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
8/11/2023

Five years after the release of Luyando, Zimbabwe's most celebrated music export returns with their long-awaited follow-up album, Tusona: Tracings in the Sand. The six musicians from Victoria Falls are refining their unique sound: infectious Afro grooves deeply connected to Zimbabwe's cultural DNA. Tusana is their most danceable album to date, a DIY production recorded during the pandemic in Zimbabwe. It features horns by Ghanaian highlife outfit Santrofi. Every Sunday, there is a gathering in the sweltering heat on grounds of an old local beer hall in the Chinotimba township in Mosi-o-Tunya (Victoria Falls). Entertainment is provided by various traditional groups including the Luvale Makisi masquerade. It is a day full of singing, drumming, dancing and storytelling. Mokoomba's lead vocalist Mathias Muzaza can often be found here singing with a voice both soaring and vulnerable. In the course of the afternoon the other band members -- guitarist Trustworth Samende, bass player Abundance Mutori, keyboard player Phathisani Moyo, percussionist Miti Mugande, and drummer Ndaba Coster Moyo -- often join in with singing. The collective from Zimbabwe put in all the experiences made over the previous years and have forged their music into a unique Zimbabwean sound. On the album Mokoomba are singing about love, loss, courage in a changing society. The first single "Nzara Hapana" is a song about a man who wants to ensure the future of his wife and family and is trying to protect them against the greed of his relatives. The danceable up-tempo song "Nyansola" praises the goddess of harvest and asks her for rain. "Makisi" is sung in Luvale and it celebrates the beauty of the initiation ceremony for which the whole community comes together. "Manina" is a song about losing a loved one. Mokoomba sing in many different local languages. Their songs are in Tonga, Luvale, Shona, Nyanja and even Lingala used in "Makolo" when they team up with Congolese singer Desolo B. Tusona refers to an ancient system of signs and symbols, drawn in the sand and used for instruction during initiation ceremonies by the Luvale in Southern Africa. Another important part of the Mukanda initiation ceremony is the incredible Makisi masquerade. The Makisi are masked characters, representing the spirit of deceased ancestors. During the yearly initiation ceremony, the Makisi return to the living world to teach the young children to become responsible adults among the Lubale people of Southern Africa. It is the connection with the cultures around them that gives Mokoomba's music its spiritual power.