Tuesday 24 February 2015

Hax Momba's seventh revelation

The last time I wrote about Haxi Momba over these pages was in
September 2012 which was also around the same period that he had
released his firth album.

I intend to repeat what I had written at the time that Haxi Momba
arrived on the musical scene with Chibvumbulutso Volume 1, a debut
album which had a hit track 'Kufa Safelana'.

This is a pattern first seen in the country when Evison Matafale
announced that all his albums will be called Kuimba 1 and so on and so forth. The Black Missionaries have lived the Matafale dream as they
are now about to release another Kuimba sequel.

No one gave Momba any chance of continuity, more-so because most of the songs on the album were shameful replete of imitation of either Burning Spear or Joseph 'Culture' Hills.

The more the tongues wagged about how short the future held for his
musical career, the more the albums kept coming from Haxi Momba who started calling himself ‘Prophet’.

Now in this 2014 the Reggae Prophet is back with Chibvumbulutso
Chapter 7. It used to be volumes; I am not sure what has prompted the
change. This is, however, beside the point; the main issue is the
maturity that has been carried in this particular production.

Momba is a kind of an artist who is never short of bringing out all
the issues he feels are bedevilling progress in all aspects of life at
the time.

The latest album is a continuation in keeping with Chibvumbulutso
messages that are not bringing anything new apart from the fact that
it has a latest chapter.

The fact that he had to use expert hands of The Black Missionaries
lead guitarist Takudziwani Chokani has kind of brought some change to the seriousness of the reggae beat.

He has decided to adopt his identity as the one who tries to mimic
Jamaican reggae grandfather Burning Spear or is it the fallen megastar
Joseph Hill.

Like the rest of his albums this seventh Haxi Momba revelations is short
of explaining his spiritual sanctuary. Instead he has brought a new
question of whether he is on the verge on turning to Gospel Reggae
considering the rendition of the hymn 'Siliva Ndilibe'.

Despite trying to sound like Spear or Culture who are confessed Rastas
Momba, however, tries to run away from declaring whether he is a Rasta or not in his tracks like he has always achieved in his previous albums.

He has the temerity to chant some Jah Rastafari in his songs in the
past albums which is not the case in this latest album. He has in fact
sub-titled Chibvumbulutso Chapter 7 as Muyuda Olonjezedwa which is reggae piece hailing the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

"Who Jah Bless, No one Curse!" he chants in the track which is
seemingly trying to swim closer to Anthony Makondetsa theme in the
famous 'Muyuda'.

He has also made it his mission to continue mourning fallen local
reggae king Evison Matafale as he has in the 10th of the 13 tracks on the album entitled 'Remember Matafale'.

Chibvumbulutso Chapter 7 is a breath of fresh air for those that follow Haxi Momba with passion as he continues to dish out 'unrevealing' sequels.


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